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Buying property in Belgium - how to buy a house, how buy an appartment in Belgium
Purchasing property in Belgium is a commitment.A purchased property with a mortgage that is sold within five years of purchase carries a heavy capital gains tax. There are several layers of paperwork in buying a property and all of them cost. Overall...
Start a Business in Belgium
A post in response to some questions about business in Belgium that I've got via email:Belgium has a number of avenues available for those looking to start a business. Belgium is the political capital of the economic union of Europe—the European Un...
Is the EU a brand?
This weekend a German woman told me, "I pay 200 euros a month in taxes to the European Union, and outside of (expletive)-ing with the euro, I can't tell you what it does."Lack of clarity and consistency in communication between government and citizen...
The EU and the European citizen's perspective
The EU has an image problem.The EU is criticized by some communication experts for being too distant, too top-down, too old (too old-fashioned that is) and too touchy when it comes to external criticism (a person is either with us or against us - whi...
The EU could learn from Facebook
They can criticize Facebook all they want. But EU bureaucrats and the EU could benefit from thinking more like Facebook and less like a top-heavy treaty organization.First, be user-driven. Facebook develops and innovates for its users and responds qu...
Private data and the EU
The EU is getting very concerned with protecting the private data of its citizens.Between organising an 'Article 29' Working party to research and advise on the amount and use of private data by corporations running social media platforms (Facebook i...
Europe Day
May 9th is Europe Day.On May 9th, 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed the idea of a supranational community for Europe. His idea soon became the economic union of France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherl...
What are Eurocrats paid and how does one become a Eurocrat?
There is some smoldering resentment in Brussels when it comes to salary. In Belgium, salary is the result of an individual negotiation between the employee and the employer, and the truth of the salary is often a carefully guarded secret. Most people...
Eyjafjallajokull and the economics of the EU
I and a special guest that has been with me for three weeks are now stranded in Brussels.We had plans to finish his vacation in Dublin (not enough rain here in Brussels, you see). But now my week of hard-earned vacation may be spent...well, possibly...
Where I'm from
I grew up in Western Kentucky and Southern Virginia, with a few years spent in rural Georgia where one of my brothers was born. That's in the South. That's the part of the USA that most people make fun of. It's also, in my opinion, the part with the...
EU citizenship - what it means
I’m researching the different avenues to Belgian citizenship. At night, after work, in between finishing a third degree in law and learning French, I find that it is an interesting if exhausting exercise to try and sort through the Belgian national...
Becoming Belgian - why I'm going to
As they say where I grew up, it's time to sh** or get off the pot. That is to say, I am now officially exploring Belgian citizenship. I'll write about the options and the process here, so that anyone else thinking about it can see how it goes. I've l...
More for less
Companies, customers, and policy makers in Brussels have been using the current economic crisis to justify cutbacks in spending, increasing the competition among their potential suppliers.But much of the competition created as a result of these cutba...
Carnival in Binche this weekend for the 600 plus year in a row
This Sunday, Binche, Belgium, will host a UNESCO-labeled Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.This Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Binche will have its annual Carnival celebration, a tradition begun by the city in the 14th century.
The new Bussels Metro Tram and bus card
Change your card! Or, if you don't have one, get a card or get a bike because free-loading is no longer an option this summer....The STIB, the Brussels public transportation office, is putting up access barriers in all metro stations. As of summer 20...
The Belgian office for foreigners who live in Belgium
For information about your 'Civil State', including everything from specific details about how someone from your country needs to apply for Belgian citizenship to a VISA, call theService Public Fédéral Etrangères Etat - CivilRue des Petits Carmes,...
Six steps (and five years) to Belgian citizenship
A colleague has applied for Belgian nationality. The colleague has kindly agreed to share the journey to Belgian citizenship with me for my blog.Before we begin, I’d like to point out that while natural Belgians are not permitted dual citizenship,...
EuroVillage announcement
GRAND OPENING Euro Village Place Luxembourg Friday 29th January Euro Village goes to Quartier Leopold in Place Luxembourg !!! Euro Village, the meeting point of the International Community in Brussels, after Place Chatelain moves to Quartier Le...
New Year and new EU order
We’ve got a new Commission and a new Council President in the EU.The Council President is a former Belgian Prime Minister, meaning that Belgium has new leadership as well. Yves Leterme, the former Belgian PM who tried to resign twice – first duri...
