Belgians ride the political cycle

Thousands of Belgian cyclists have encircled Brussels in the 27th annual Gordel, amid political friction between Belgium's linguistic communities.
Dutch speakers gathered from 7am on Sunday for to ride through and around the outer suburbs of Brussels, a largely French-speaking part of Flanders.
The annual Gordel, which is Dutch for "belt", has a strong political element this year, as divisions grow between Francophone and Dutch-speaking Belgians.
"I've come for some sport but also for a bit of politics," said one participant."I'm not a separatist but we can't just let ourselves be taken advantage of."
Many of the cyclists wore yellow jerseys emblazoned with the Flemish lion, while stickers of the same stamp adorned their bicycles.
Members of the Vlaams Belang party, which supports Flemish independence, distributed sweets to participants.

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Forrmula 1 Racing in Belgium

The Formula 1 circuit comes to Belgium, at Spa on September 14-16.

Considered by many to be the best circuit on the F1 calendar, Spa has the longest lap length of all, and is certainly one of the most scenically situated, surrounded by wooded hillsides and small farms. It is also renowned for its changeable weather. (who would have thought..huh?)

Be prepared for sticker shock!

Belgium Leads the Pack in Housing Price Rise

Forget the sunny climes of Spain and Portugal. The European country that experienced the biggest leap in housing prices in the last year was Belgium, according to a new report by Halifax, the U.K. banking and insurance company.
Belgium showed an 18 percent increase in prices, compared to a 15 percent for France and a 14 percent increase for Spain, the study found. (And it’s worth noting that Halifax showed a larger growth spurt for Spain than other studies.)
Over the last five years, Spain led the way with a 100 percent increase in prices, but the U.K. was not far behind with a whopping 90 percent jump, followed by France at 73 percent and Ireland at 71 percent.
Germany was the only country to show a decline in prices in the last five years.

According the report—which can be found here—Ireland boasts the highest average price in the Eurozone–£209,300 (€309,800)—followed by the Netherlands with an average of £190,900 (€282,500). The average in the U.K. was £187,100 (€276,900), compared to £150,200 (€222,300) in Spain.

Air Traffic Europe

Look at all the zillions of planes coming in and going out, they look like little grubs on the screen.

International media are gradually beginning to take notice of the crisis in Brussels

Yesterday Joshua Keating wrote a piece on the blog of the American journal Foreign Policy about the “simmering ethnic tensions” in Belgium. Keating notes that “If nothing else comes from this, it should certainly give EU diplomats some pause before chastising Albanians and Serbs, Palestinians and Jews, or Sunnis and Shiites for failing to coexist.

In 2004 the economic output per person in Flanders was 124% of the EU average, in Wallonia it was but 90% of the EU average. Today the Walloon business paper L’Echo writes that if Wallonia loses the Flemish subsidies, amounting to 3.3 billion euros, this would cost every Walloon 1,000 euros per year. Brussels, Belgium’s bilingual capital, receives 0.2 billion euros from Flanders each year, or 200 euros per citizen. Some Walloons suggest that if pro-market Flanders secedes from Belgium Socialist-dominated Wallonia cannot survive and will have to join France. 40% of the active population in Wallonia works for the government (compared to “only” 25% in Flanders) and 20% is unemployed (7% in Flanders).

Meanwhile, the Walloon Parti Socialiste, traditionally the dominant party in Belgian politics, is embroiled in a corruption scandal involving Pierre-Dominique Schmidt, Belgium’s ambassador to France. France is Belgium’s most powerful neighbour. If the country falls apart, the role of France will be pivotal. The position of Belgian ambassador to Paris is a privilege of the PS. Belgian diplomats need the patronage of a political party. As a rule the position in Paris is bestowed on a diplomat who is a PS party member. He is one of the most important ambassadors in Belgium.

Last Wednesday the Flemish weekly
P-Magazine revealed that Ambassador Schmidt had forged Foreign Office documents in order to obtain bank loans to pay for his luxurious life style. The ambassador has been throwing regular private disco parties costing up to 75,000 euros. Ambassador Schmidt is a homosexual and a friend of PS leader Elio Di Rupo, the president of the Walloon Regional Government. According to P-Magazine, Mr. Di Rupo, who is also a homosexual, attended some of Schmidt’s parties. The magazine writes that the Belgian embassy in Paris is known at the Belgian Foreign Office in Brussels as ‘la cage aux folles,’ after a French 1978 movie about a homosexual couple that runs a nightclub featuring drag entertainment.