March 2023 - l'Européenne de Bruxelles

Chlorpyrifos is banned in Belgium, but we produce it in mass

March 31, 2023 1756 views

Belgium is the largest European exporter of the plant protection product chlorpyrifos, a product that has been banned in the EU since 2020. That’s what Knack and Le Soir are reporting this week. Through detours, the substance could also be re-imported into our country via food. Sector Federation Belplant calls for a ban on the export of plant protection products banned in the EU to countries that are neither members of the OECD nor members of the Rotterdam Convention. However, the Federation advocates nuance in the discussion and emphasizes that…

First mine hunting vessel launched in Belgium

March 30, 2023 1758 views

The first mine countermeasures vessel from a binational project with Belgium has been launched today. During the ceremony in the French Concarneau, Naval handed over the ship’s Bell and the nameplates of BNS Oostende to the Belgian Navy. The Ostend is the first of 12 new mine countermeasures vessels that the Royal Navy has acquired and developed together with Belgium. Both countries get 6. The current Minehunters of both navies are nearing the end of their service lives. The construction of the second new Belgian minesweeper has also begun. The…

Access to social housing for Moroccans will be restricted

March 27, 2023 1765 views

Access to social housing could soon become more difficult for Moroccans living in Belgium, at least if the Call of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) to tighten access conditions is heeded. In addition to income, not having a home abroad is one of the conditions for obtaining social housing, but an investigation carried out between March 2021 and December 2022 by the Flemish minister of Housing shows that there is a lot of housing fraud. Of the 677 studies carried out, 322 (or 48%) “demonstrated the existence of a foreign property”,…

Otovo sells solar panels with a subscription formula

March 22, 2023 1777 views

Otovo, the European market leader for solar panels and batteries, is opening its doors to the Belgian market. Otovo makes access to solar panels and batteries simple and affordable. In two clicks, customers are linked to a reliable installer. And with the subscription formula, customers don’t have to make big investments to opt for solar panels. Cedric sever, known as a former manager of Coolblue, will lead the work on the Belgian market in the right direction as general manager: “…at the moment, Belgium is the most expensive country for…

Belgium adopts new crypto ad law, risk statement is obligatory

March 21, 2023 1779 views

Advertising for cryptocurrencies is subject to new rules in Belgium. For example, the Financial Services and Markets Authority should be informed in advance of major advertising campaigns, it states in this press release. Own research would show that advertisements for cryptocurrencies are misleading. Too much is given the impression that you can get rich quickly with it. So, for example, exchanges and brokers have to point out to their (future) customers a lot about the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, such as volatility. However, investors are not deterred by the past…

Belgium recognizes Buddhism as a philosophy of life which makes a positive contribution to society

March 17, 2023 1788 views

Buddhism is officially recognized as a philosophy of life by the Council of ministers on Friday. It is estimated that the community in Belgium has around 150,000 supporters. The Federal Council of ministers will normally green the bill of minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld) regarding the recognition on Friday. Buddhism is thus the eighth non-denominational philosophy in Belgium, in addition to, among other things, the Catholic, Islamic and liberal philosophy. ” Over the past decades, this community has proven that it can structure itself and make a…

Proximus and Google sign agreement to provide sovereign cloud service

March 15, 2023 1792 views

Proximus and Google Cloud will soon offer sovereign cloud services in Belgium and Luxembourg A strategic partnership to be the first to offer ‘Google distributed Cloud Hosted’ -a disconnected sovereign cloud solution – to governments, regulated companies and international organizations in Europe Proximus and Google Cloud today announced a five-year agreement to offer sovereign cloud services in Belgium and Luxembourg. This partnership will provide solutions for governments, regulated businesses and international organizations to safely roll out sensitive, mission-critical activities and provide them with advanced digital sovereignty controls. Under this agreement,…

Eveon promotes shipping container afterlife

March 14, 2023March 14, 2023 1795 views

The Dutch scaleup Eveon is working hard to unlock the market for used shipping containers internationally via an e-commerce platform. After Germany (2020), the United States (2021) and Canada (2022), Eveon is now also active in its home country of the Netherlands. Belgium will follow soon. The plan is to roll out further to dozens of countries in the coming years. The aim is to let more used shipping containers find their way to a second life. This results in a huge CO2 reduction. Eveon is the only fully digital…

SVB collapse unlikely to strike Belgian banks

March 14, 2023 1795 views

The National Bank of Belgium is closely monitoring the situation surrounding the collapse of the American Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). But at the same time, the regulator says that the business model of that bank cannot be compared with that of Belgian banks. The exposure for our country would also be very limited. The exposure is also limited for the entire eurozone, says the Eurogroup. Silicon Valley Bank went under in recent days, according to National Bank director Tom Dechaene in an interview with the time by “a combination of…

Belgium still lags behind in 5G adoption

March 14, 2023 1795 views

The sale of 5G spectrum in Belgium took place quite late. Nevertheless, it seems that our country no longer has a significant backlog. In fact, the rollout of 5G in a B2B context is going very well. Belgium is well into the transformation of 5G. these are not our words: at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona we hear positive sounds from all sides. Providers, Infrastructure Partners and even private 5G specialists praise the commitment and strategy of our country. That’s somewhat surprising. After all, our country was very late…