Frank Brangwyn 7 Focus on FLANDERS • 8 July- 14 July 2006 • Number 28 2 ECONOMY and POLITICS
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flandersfocus on THE DUTCH SPEAKING PART OF BELGIUM press review weekly, does not appear in July • number 28 • 8 July – 14 July 2006 Six groups still in running INTRODUCTION This year too, many commenta- tors are seizing on the Flemish for Indaver Community's feast day to gauge the strength of the belief in Flemish independence. Sepa- The sale of a majority interest in the PASCAL DENDOOVEN • DE STANDAARD • ratism, De Morgen concludes (8 Flemish waste company Indaver has 12 JULY July), has long since ceased to entered a new phase, report De Stan- be a term of abuse in Flanders. According to a survey, admittedly carried out by the daard and De Tijd (12 July). At the With Veolia Environnement there is a radical Flemish-minded paper ‘Doorbraak’, 22% of beginning of this year the Flemish Gov- second French group in the running. Flemings questioned were sympathetic towards the idea of a total split of Belgium, but 55.5% were ernment put its majority interest (via This group is one of the largest in the flatly against it. That 22% is less than the two par- the Flemish Environmental Holding environmental sector. On the Belgian ties that include Flemish independence in their man- VMH) of 54.2% up for sale, but still side there is a financial consortium ifesto have (N-VA and Vlaams Belang), as together they account for around 30%. The paper has to ac- wants to retain a blocking minority of based around Ackermans & van knowledge that separatists are no longer a marginal 25%. Indaver has a turnover of 210 mil- Haaren, KBC Private Equity and the group. Undoubtedly the failed splitting of Brussels- lion euros and last year increased its net British venture capital group 3i. The Halle-Vilvoorde and the corruption scandals in the Walloon PS boosted their support considerably. profits to 16.6 million euros. Twelve British Shanks is also going through. The idea of a split was also given a new boost re- companies have announced themselves The same applies to the Rotterdam- cently by the cost-benefit analysis with figures pro- duced by the Warande group, a club of mainly to Bank Degroof, the business bank based AVR, which is owned by venture Flemish-minded former CEO's and managers. The handling the sale. Of these twelve, six capital groups KKR and CVC Capital. club wants to split Belgium because it claims this is can now continue to the next round. Finally there is the Dutch energy and in the interests of both Flanders and Wallonia. Their analysis has been well-received in Flemish business Some of these groups are bidding via a environment group Delta. These six circles, claims Chairman Remi Vermeiren, former consortium. For example, the French groups will shortly have access to sen- Chairman of Flanders’ biggest bank, KBC, in De Tijd environmental group Sita, a subsidiary sitive information which should allow (11 July) The group has not yet drawn up a step-by- step plan as to how such independence should be of the Suez group, is bidding jointly them to issue a binding bid. That achieved. That will only happen if a sustainable ma- with the Municipal Holding, Arco, the should not happen before August. jority expressly supports the principle of Flemish in- dependence, says Vermeiren. financial arm of the Christian Workers’ The parties that are bidding are ex- But let's just say it actually happens, what exactly Movement, Dexia and the regional tremely motivated, which means the will have to be sorted out, De Morgen wonders. Fi- investment company GIMV ( FF). corporate value of Indaver could rise nancial transfers, to start with. Wallonia generates insufficient tax revenue to finance its high unem- from 250 million to 300 million euros. ployment and other expenditure. That is made up CONTENTS That in turn means that the VMH by transfers from Flanders. If these are abolished, could pocket at least 60 million euros. Wallonia will lose one fifth of its benefits in a flash. Flanders will inevitably have to pay a high price as a Economy and Politics Indaver has developed into a player result, claims De Morgen. Then there is the national A business plan for Flanders 2 with interests in Portugal, Italy, Ire- debt of 280 billion euros. A scale of apportionment would also have to be found for this. Would finan- All out for all talents 2 land, Poland and the Czech Republic. cial clout be the criterion, or population levels? For A customer-friendly civil service 2 The group is one of the leaders in its Wallonia that makes quite a difference: 12% com- Entrepreneurship: a change in attitude 3 field, especially in the processing of in- pared to 35%. Some Flemish models want Wallonia to accept 60% because they believe the region is re- Flanders: a logistical center 3 dustrial waste. sponsible for most of the debt. In short, Belgium Entrepreneurs and trade unions are It is likely to be well into autumn be- costs Flanders money, but no one knows how much positive towards Flanders’ business plan 3 fore we know who holds the strongest a partition of property will cost Flanders, says CD&V member Eric Van Rompuy, summarising the De Batselier calls for contract between cards to take a controlling interest. Po- dilemma in De Morgen. Flanders and French Community 4 tentially the Flemish Region will not And say they find a way out of it, there is still the problem of Brussels. According to Flemish national- Dredging company De Nul wins only have to choose between a finan- ists, Brussels must remain the capital of Flanders. 1 billion contract in Dubai 4 cial and an industrial project but also The Warande group is calling for a Brussels DC after consider how it wants Indaver to grow the American model. According to Vermeiren, both Flanders and Brussels have an interest in such a situ- Agriculture and social policy in Europe henceforth. ation, in which Flanders supports the independent Map3 tightens up manure policy 5 www.indaver.be Brussels. Blood must promote integration 6 De Morgen is more sceptical: in such a city-state the 120,000 Flemings would inevitably lose their privi- Antwerp hospitals to cooperate 6 leged position and become one of the many minori- ties. They would be implacably sacrificed for Flemish independence, the paper claims. Culture next press review in week 34 Vlaams Belang against 0110 Festival 7 Museum on the River receives 21 million 7 (18-24 August) Frank Vandecaveye | editor in chief Bruges commemorates Frank Brangwyn 7 focus on FLANDERS • 8 July- 14 July 2006 • Number 28 2 ECONOMY AND POLITICS 11 JULY BUSINESS PLAN FOR FLANDERS ‘All out for all A business plan for Flanders talents’: knowledge for everyone the plan is designed to secure the welfare of the region and again make Flanders one of the top regions in Europe Investing in talents concerns the most FF EDITOR It is difficult to call ‘Flanders in Ac- important raw material in Flanders: its tion’ a ‘different noise’, claim De Stan- knowledge. Education is good here, but On 10 July in Antwerp Zoo, Minister- daard (10 July) and De Morgen (11 still has one or two difficulties that ur- President Yves Leterme (CD&V) and July). Rather, it is a more concrete gently need sorting out. In secondary his government team presented ‘Flan- manifestation of the socio-economic education that is the gulf between ders in Action’, a business plan de- section of the coalition agreement. General Secondary Education (ASO) signed to secure the welfare of the re- Leterme echoes that, but emphasises and the more practically and techni- gion and again make Flanders one of that the main aim of the plan is to cally oriented Technical Secondary Ed- the top regions in Europe alongside spread a cohesive vision (De Stan- ucation (TSO) and Vocational Sec- such regions as Catalonia and Beieren. daard, 10 July). He also stresses the ondary Education (BSO). The waterfall continuity between his plan and what system, in which young people who The plan puts great emphasis on the has already been achieved. Leterme fail end up in ever-‘lower’ levels, is an- economy and provides a line of action and his government have deliberately other. Groups that all too often fall by for the next ten to fifteen years. omitted the Community demands for the wayside, such as foreigners, also The four key tasks in the plan focus on more regional powers. The next Com- get special attention. And finally edu- education and training (‘Go all out for munity round will be in 2007 after the cation has to dovetail more effectively the development of all talents’), entre- federal elections. But the call for more with the job market (FF). preneurship and innovation (‘Work on powers for Flanders must not be an al- creativity. Innovation as culture. More ibi for passivity and resignation today. DE STANDAARD • 10 JULY entrepreneurship’), logistics (‘Make The ‘Flanders in Action’ project itself better use of our central location’) and is a dull and lacklustre text that would During their secondary education a decisive and customer-friendly gov- be better off being looked at by an edi- young people will all have lessons on ernment. tor-in-chief, says De Morgen. Nor is it the shop floor. There will be more Leterme’s team has come up with 34 attractive or inspiring. ‘Could we work placement and those who wish projects to accomplish these four key please have a popular version soon?’ is can work up to 28 hours a week with tasks. By September budgets will also how the Gazet van Antwerpen ends its an apprenticeship contract.