Economist.com Cities Guide: Brussels Briefing - August 2005

News this month

A bitter taste

About 6,000 farmers, contractors and processors from all over Europe flocked to Brussels in late June to protest against plans to curb subsidies for sugar producers. The protest was timed to coincide with the unveiling of new reforms to the EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) by Mariann Fischer Boel, Europe's agricultural commissioner.

Ms Boel argues that the sugar subsidies are incompatible with the laws of the World Trade Organisation, which recently ruled they breached legal limits. Europe’s sugar-beet growers depend on CAP subsidies, which take the form of artificially inflated prices for their product, to compete with sugar-cane producers in the tropics, where the crop is abundant. The EU uses tariffs to deter sugar imports, and it subsidises exports. The commission has proposed cutting the price the EU pays for white sugar and paying sugar factories to go out of business, in order to scale down the industry in Europe. But it is not only European producers who will suffer under these reforms: African, Caribbean and Pacific producers complain that the value of their privileged access to the EU market will fall if European prices are cut. These countries can now sell about 1.3m tonnes of sugar, at a price of €524 a tonne. Under the commission's new plan, this price is due to fall to €303, depriving them of revenues worth about €287m.

Some protestors did not have far to come: sugar-beet is grown on the outskirts of Brussels, and there is a flourishing processing industry in nearby Tirlemont.

Tightening up

Fortis, a Belgo-Dutch financial group, has frozen the accounts of 150,000 banking customers who failed to comply with new rules for combating money laundering and terrorism. Following legislation introduced in Belgium in 2004, customers must supply their banks with personal details and a copy of their identity cards. Fortis, the first big bank to take action, has also threatened to freeze the accounts of a further 150,000 customers who failed to present their identity card. Banks throughout Belgium are expected to follow suit later this year.

Belgium, like Luxembourg and Austria, has a tradition of banking secrecy, which is gradually being eroded following the European Union's revision of a money-laundering directive in 2001. In early July, for example, new rules in Belgium took effect regarding the disclosure of income from investments made abroad.

Turbulence

Relations between trade unions and management at Zaventem Airport flared up again in July, when baggage handlers threatened “guerrilla” protests against Flightcare, the airport's baggage-handling firm. Following the dismissal of Maria Vindevoghel, a union official who achieved fame during the collapse of Belgium’s national airline, Sabena, workers staged a strike that disrupted flights in mid-July. Ms Vindevoghel was dismissed for alleged breaches of safety regulations, but Flightcare's employees claim that her sacking is just one example of how badly staff are treated.
They also promised to stage further “unexpected” demonstrations, to call attention to their complaints about safety problems and poor working conditions. On July 20th, trade unionists occupied Flightcare's management building for a few hours.

The airport's management was swift to retaliate: unions now face court fines of €6,500 ($7,200) if their action affects passengers. Freya van den Bossche, Belgium's Labour Minister, has also appointed an arbitrator to help solve the dispute. Meanwhile, regional governments in Belgium are still arguing over flight paths and noise levels from the airport, which sits on the edge of Brussels, on the border with Flanders. The Court of Appeal in Brussels has threatened to fine the federal government and air traffic control authorities unless they comply with noise limits by mid-September.

Stormy summer

Storms in early July toppled trees and brought flash floods to Brussels. But the worst of the weather was in the west of the country, where floods in east and west Flanders caused an estimated €86m worth of damage. The Belgian government pronounced the floods a natural disaster, enabling local authorities to claim federal compensation.

The full effect of the storms on this season's crops is not yet known, but farmers fear that potatoes, sugar-beet and barley could be affected by rot. And, perhaps more importantly for Brussels's restaurant trade, as much as one-third of this season's spinach and endive crops may have been destroyed.

Surrogacy under the spotlight

Surrogate motherhood came under the spotlight in July, when a Belgian couple filed a kidnapping complaint against a woman they claimed was having their baby. In a complex case that crosses national boundaries, the surrogate mother instead gave the baby to a Dutch couple, who have started adoption proceedings in the Netherlands. The Belgian couple have offered to take DNA tests to prove that the man is the father of the child. There are accusations and counter-accusations of an internet auction and payments, which would be in breach of Belgian law. The surrogate mother, interviewed on Flemish television, denied being paid. Belgian authorities are investigating.

Catch if you can

August 2005

Kinshasa: The Imaginary City

Until September 24th 2005

Belgium’s historic ties to Congo are already on display in an exhibition at the Africa Museum. This new exhibit concentrates instead on modern Kinshasa, the capital of today’s Congo. The show portrays a vibrant and troubled city, mainly documented in colour photographs and videos. It won Belgium an award for best pavilion at last year’s Venice Architecture Biennale (like the Venice Biennale, but with an emphasis on design and it takes place in even years). The event includes free performances by Kinshasan musicians.

Palais des Beaux-Arts, 23 Rue Ravenstein. Tel: +32 (02) 507-8444. Closed Mondays.

More from the Brussels cultural calendar