Latest news with #Walloon
Associated Press
07-04-2025
- Associated Press
Standard Liege fans find a dangerous surprise under their seats at Belgian league match
CHARLEROI, Belgium (AP) — Standard Liege's travelling supporters made an unusual discovery when they arrived at the stadium of Belgian league rivals Sporting Charleroi at the weekend. Remote-controlled flares and smoke bombs were hidden under their seats. It was quite uncommon, and also very dangerous, Belgian authorities said. Charleroi prosecutor's office said on Monday that it has referred the case of 'attempted arson of a building in which people were present' to an investigating magistrate. Police were called to the stadium on Sunday before the start of the match after several devices were found under seats in the section occupied by Standard fans. The prosecutor's office said the pyrotechnics were found by the Standard supporters, after one of them was surprised that his seat was not properly fixed. The stand had to be partially evacuated while a unit specialised in defusing explosives and a bomb detection dog were also called in. 'A total of 14 home-made devices were found and neutralised. The devices consisted of smoke bombs and bengal fires connected to a remote ignition system,' the prosecutor's office said, adding that if the devices had detonated, they could have caused serious burns. The prosecutor's office has not announced any arrests relating to the incident. Charleroi won the game 1-0. Matches between bitter rivals Charleroi and Standard, known as the Walloon derbies, are regularly marred by incidents and hooliganism.
New European
26-02-2025
- Politics
- New European
Bart De Wever, the prime minister against his own country
Belgium recently experienced an uncharacteristic burst of optimism. Not because the country finally has a new government, eight months after the elections. Rather, with the selection of the singer Red Sebastian, Belgians are confident they're on to a winner for the Eurovision Song Contest. Red, after all, is the colour of the country's one unifying feature, the Red Devils national football team. The mould-breaking new government is a lot less unifying – it is led and dominated for the first time by Flemish nationalists. The hard-right, nationalist mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, is the new federal prime minister, and his Flemish nationalist N-VA is the largest party in what is called the 'Arizona' coalition, after the colours in the American state's flag. The N-VA is seen by most other Belgian parties as the least-worst alternative to the even more extreme, Flemish ultra-nationalist Vlaams Belang (VB) party that was held to second place in the elections in June last year. The cordon sanitaire , the political firewall excluding VB, has held at the federal level but the new prime minister, De Wever, has adopted some of his rivals' hardline rhetoric. Migration is, unsurprisingly, a focus for the new government. De Wever has promised 'the strictest migration policy ever' and also 'the strictest you can have in Europe'. In his sights are war refugees, who will be restricted to a much less settled status, with a longer route to family unification and reduced access to benefits. Harsh migration policy pledges are familiar, not only from Donald Trump but from like-minded Europeans such as Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Herbert Kickl in Austria. De Wever, though, has always made a point of distancing himself from such extremes, even showing distaste for their brand of politics. The new government is seen as the most right wing ever, but that is by Belgian standards. In contrast to the Netherlands, De Wever had to include a left wing party in his coalition, the Flemish social democratic Vooruit. In true Low Countries tradition, he needed another three partners for a majority: Walloon liberals and Christian democrats and also Flemish Christian democrats. The number of ministers has shrunk from 20 to 15, fulfilling De Wever's campaign pledge to have a smaller government. In fact, if De Wever had his way, there wouldn't be a Belgian federal government at all. It's somewhat counterintuitive to have as federal prime minister a politician who poses such a danger to the continued unity of the country. De Wever wants to take as many responsibilities as possible away from central government and transfer them to the already powerful regions. But above all, he wants to reduce the flow of Flemish money to the economically less dynamic Walloon region. Reform of unemployment benefits and pensions is crucial to the success of the new government, which is confronted with a ballooning budget deficit for which the country has received a warning from Brussels. EU Brussels that is, not Belgian Brussels. EU Brussels, while applauding his conservative fiscal impulses, has also gained another headache. N-VA belongs to the same hard right bloc in the European Parliament as Italy's Giorgia Meloni. This means that yet another head of government in the EU will not belong to the mainstream coalition of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. But the commission doesn't seem to be overly concerned by De Wever. He is still seen as the hero who kept the far right dragon at bay. But that might be a mistake. De Wever would like to see an independent Flanders, firmly anchored in a 'democratic Europe'. But he accepts he has no majority for this, and so for now he wants a stripped-down, confederate system. Likewise, he has called on the EU to stick to its core functions. Some might call it conservative, others might say it's selfish and shortsighted. But then, De Wever argues, how is Flanders different from other relatively wealthy regions such as Catalonia in Spain or Italy's north in not wanting to be burdened by what it sees as underperforming regions? If that's De Wever's take on things, it probably wouldn't be long before an independent Flanders would also object to contributing payments to the EU. And you in the UK know all too well where that can lead. Ferry Biedermann is a journalist living in Amsterdam writing on Europe, the Netherlands and Brexit. He is also a former Middle East correspondent
Reuters
13-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
KBC considering acquisitions in Central and Eastern Europe, CEO says
Feb 13 (Reuters) - Belgium's largest bank KBC ( opens new tab is considering acquisitions in Central European markets, including Romania, CEO Johan Thijs told Reuters on Thursday. The lender, which is already active in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, is looking into opportunities in both the banking and insurance segments, Thijs said. "We are definitely looking into possibilities on the M&A front," Thijs said in an interview. "If tomorrow one or the other bank or insurance company is available, we will definitely have a look." "If something (becomes) available in Romania, we would be interested as well." He said the bank has a shortlist of potential targets, but declined to give further details. Thijs said the bank is also interested in buying state-owned Belgian insurer Ethias - whose potential sale has long been a point of political contention between its joint owners, the Flemish, Walloon and federal states - "when they become available". The bank's Central European units helped it achieve strong results in 2024, accounting for almost 50% of annual net earnings. Europe's banking sector is seeing broader consolidation, with Spain's BBVA ( opens new tab pursuing smaller rival Sabadell ( opens new tab, Commerzbank ( opens new tab fending off advances from Italy's UniCredit ( opens new tab, and Dutch ING Groep ( opens new tab exploring takeover options in Germany, Italy and Spain. The KBC chief called on Europe to reconsider banking regulation, referencing President Donald Trump's promises to deregulate the U.S. banking sector. "One good thing about the behaviour of Mr. Trump is that it might cause the European institutions to reconsider their positions (on a European Banking Union)", he said. "I don't believe in a sector which is fully self-regulated... (but) the pendulum has swung too far," he said.
