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Belgium, itself divided on trade, eyes role of honest broker at EU helm

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

This article is part of the Belgian Presidency of the EU special report.BRUSSELS — French-speaking and Dutch-speaking Belgians find it hard to agree on anything — and trade is no exception.Yet that may make it easier for Belgium to agree with the rest of Europe when it takes the helm of the Council of the European Union in the first half of next year.The very fact that Belgium falls into both camps — free trade and protectionist — could help it play the role of honest broker as the EU tries to push key trade files to the finish line before next June’s European election.In the south, Francophone Wallonia is more critical toward free trade. If trade deals are struck, the left-leaning region will insist on strict environmental and human rights standards.But north of Brussels, Dutch-speaking Flanders is led largely by right-wing nationalists who consider trade deals a way for business to prosper. The wealth of Flanders, with its large Antwerp port, is export-driven.And the national...

Belgium’s tech bro: Alexander De Croo

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

This article is part of the Belgian Presidency of the EU special report.BRUSSELS — Government leaders are rarely the biggest technology enthusiasts. Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is, however, an exception. At 48, he is among the European Union’s youngest leaders and has managed a political high-wire act in holding together a broad seven-party coalition for more than three years — after nearly two years when Belgium had no government.But before he started leading the country in October 2020, De Croo was a tech geek. He joined a startup in the early 2000s and later beame Belgium’s telecoms and digital minister for six years. Even now, as prime minister, he oversees the country’s cybersecurity center. That digital savvy is a boon to tech professionals as Belgium prepares to take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on January 1. Belgium will be in the European hot seat as the EU tries to regulate artificial intellig...

Belgium leads the charge on the EU’s medicines reshoring plans

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

This article is part of the Belgian Presidency of the EU special report.In the mountain town of Kundl, Austria, 10 fermenting vats — the largest 250,000 liters in volume — bubble with the Continent’s pharmaceutical future.The new plant, inaugurated by pharmaceutical company Sandoz on November 10, doesn’t bring just jobs and money to Kundl. It also brings scale to antibiotics production in Europe.“The site has the capacity to produce a minimum 4,000 [metric] tons of active pharmaceutical ingredient [annually],” explained the site’s director, Hannes Woerner. Though destined for the international market, that would be enough to supply all of Europe’s demand for amoxicillin, the most common form of the antibiotic penicillin.The plant is an early green shoot in an EU-wide attempt to revive the industry of pharmaceutical production, once dominant in Europe. According to an analysis by bank ING, the European Union can currently only meet a quarter of its own d...

How to navigate Belgium’s EU presidency policy agenda like a pro

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

This article is part of the Belgian Presidency of the EU special report.All eyes are on next June’s European election — and it’s up to the Belgians to close out the current five-year mandate. With the European Union going into full campaign mode ahead of the vote, Belgium has even less time than usual to make the most of its run heading the Council of the EU. With the sun setting on this European Parliament and European Commission, there’s no time to waste. Despite the best efforts of Spain, which we previewed a half year ago, many files in Belgium’s in tray are leftovers. Others are new or adapted initiatives in response to a shifting political landscape. Here is a sampling of the files that will define the Belgian presidency.Enlarging the EUName of legislation: European Union membership applications for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Western BalkansWhy it matters: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has put EU enlargement back on the political agenda. Incorporating Ky...

UK tries new Rwanda treaty to get controversial asylum flights off the ground

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

LONDON — British Home Secretary James Cleverly landed in Kigali Tuesday morning to sign a new treaty with the Rwandan government which he hopes will finally see flights deporting asylum seekers to the east African nation take off.It’s the first and most eye-catching development in the government’s two-part plan to get the controversial Rwanda scheme back on track, after it was thrown out by the Supreme Court last month. It comes amid mounting pressure from Conservative MPs to reduce U.K. asylum numbers.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government wants to deport people who make “dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys” to Rwanda, with their asylum claims processed and decided on by Rwandan authorities. Successful applicants would be settled in Rwanda, not the U.K.Britain has already struck a multi-million pound deal with Rwanda to make that happen. But no flights have yet taken off and the policy has been mired in legal challenge. The Supreme Court last month dealt the late...

Fewer pills please: Stop prescribing antidepressants for mild symptoms, say doctors 

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

LONDON — A group of psychiatrists, psychologists and politicians in the U.K. have called for a halt to new antidepressant prescriptions for patients with mild conditions, arguing that growing prescription rates are not associated with improvements in mental health. Nearly 1 in 5 British adults are prescribed antidepressants, with the number of annual prescriptions jumping from around 47 million in 2011 to 86 million in 2022/23.The signatories of an open letter published in the British Medical Journal Tuesday — who include professors of psychiatry and psychology, GPs, former NHS chief Nigel Crisp and former care minister Norman Lamb — want to see a reversal of this trend. The authors’ main concern is that the uptick in prescriptions has not seen a corresponding improvement in population level mental health outcomes. Some measures show that these have in fact worsened, they write.The letter comes as a new All Party Parliamentary Group called Beyond Pills launches Tuesday, c...

4 Republicans qualify for fourth 2024 presidential debate

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

(CNN) — Four candidates have qualified for the fourth GOP presidential primary debate taking place Wednesday night in Alabama, the Republican National Committee and debate broadcaster NewsNation announced Monday.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will face off in Tuscaloosa in what will be the smallest debate stage lineup so far this year. Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, will skip the event, as he has all previous debates and will instead attend a fundraiser in Florida for a super PAC supporting his candidacy.Monday’s announcement comes with just six weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses open the 2024 GOP nomination calendar and as DeSantis and Haley compete fiercely to be seen as the top primary rival to Trump.To make the Tuscaloosa stage, candidates had to meet higher donor and polling criteri...

Healey Gets, Signs Overdue $3.1 Billion Closeout Budget

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

After weeks of legislative procrastination, parliamentary delays and finger-pointing, a $3.1 billion spending bill packed with money for the stretched-thin emergency shelter system and public worker raises landed on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk Monday and she immediately signed it.House Democrats were able to get a quorum of members together to push through a compromise on a long-overdue package they failed to wrap up before the Legislature shifted into a seven-week holiday stretch of informal sessions.Republicans in the House successfully stalled the bill on Thursday, Friday and Saturday by pointing out that not enough lawmakers were present to constitute a quorum, but enough Democrats ventured to the State House on Monday to get the bill through that branch.The House adopted the compromise bill on a hand-counted 105-14 vote, and the Senate followed through several hours later with a 20-3 vote. Both branches then gave the measure final approval on unrecorded voice votes, sending ...

Virginia authorities investigating explosion of Arlington home as police were executing a warrant

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

(CNN) — A home exploded in Arlington, Virginia, Monday night as police were trying to execute a search warrant, sending the building up in flames with a suspect still inside and prompting the evacuation of several nearby houses, officials said.Police are investigating the circumstances of the explosion, which tore through the home as law enforcement were trying to make contact with the man inside, who they suspect had been firing a flare gun from his home earlier in day, according to Arlington County Police Department spokesperson Ashley Savage.Officers had responded to reports of shots fired near the home shortly before 5 p.m. and obtained a search warrant for the residence after determining the suspect had discharged the flare gun about 30 to 40 times from his home into the surrounding neighborhood, according to a police statement released early Tuesday.“During the course of the investigation, officers obtained a search warrant for the suspect’s residence and attemp...

Putin to discuss Israel-Hamas war during a 1-day trip to Saudi Arabia and UAE

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:25:49 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a one-day trip to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia focused on the Israeli-Hamas war and host the Iranian president in Moscow this week, the Kremlin said Tuesday.Putin will make working visits to both countries on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.The talks will focus on bilateral relations, the war between Israel and Hamas and other international issues, Peskov said. Issues related to oil price caps under OPEC+ will also be on the agenda, he added.Putin’s trip was first announced on Monday by his foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who didn’t give a date for the visits when he spoke to the Russian news outlet Life.“I hope that these will be very useful negotiations, which we consider extremely important,” Ushakov was quoted as saying by Life. Putin will make the visit at a time when Russia wants to advance its role as a power broker in the conflict in the Middle East. Putin will host Irania...