Flanders today
january 6, 2010
Erkenningsnummer P708816
Music vs malaria......................... 3
Free ly! week
I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S W ee k l y news
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arts
Hasselt and Maastricht Universities are teaming up to provide a brand-new law programme with an emphasis on European law, while Hasselt U starts its renovation of the city’s old prison building
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Tongeren’s Gallo-Roman Museum stages an exhibition dedicated to the legendary Ambiorix and the Eburones, the Celtic (or possibly Germanic) tribe responsible for Caesar’s greatest defeat in Gaul © Paul Ellis/Belga
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The real Ambiorix.................. 8
Brain child.............. 6
Music for Life, the annual fundraising initiative by Studio Brussels, raised more than €3 million to fight Malaria worldwide. The popular public event found three DJs living in a glass house in the centre of Ghent for a week
Beyond Copenhagen Climate change agreements may have failed, but development of offshore wind power is one of Belgium’s goals during its EU presidency
W Emma Portier Davis
As the climate talks in Copenhagen got underway, ministers from Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain launched an initiative to connect offshore wind farms that dot Europe’s coastlines, creating a super grid. This would include Belgium’s Thornton Bank wind farm, 30 kilometres off the coast of Zeebrugge. Belgian representatives, who have pushed the issue forward, said the initiative will be one of the country’s top priorities when its government takes on the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union in the second
half of this year, a move which has been welcomed by environmentalists. “This is a clear political statement at a high level and a commitment to get on with it in 2010 as a top priority,” said Greenpeace energy specialist Jan Van de Putte, whose team has been actively campaigning to develop windpower technology as an alternative to nuclear or so-called “clean coal” (where the carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored).
New laws for 2010 Smoking ban gets off to shaky start Alan Hope
The most publicised new law to enter into force in 2010 is the extension of the smoking ban in cafés and restaurants, which now includes all premises where food is served. Previously the ban only affected restaurants in which at least 30% of the income came from food. Under the new legislation, all food is covered apart from nuts, crisps and dried sausages served in bars. However, many bar owners have already decided to take food off the menu rather than lose their smoking customers. Other owners plan to serve lunch smoke free while allowing smoking in the afternoon and evening – although this may bring them to
the attention of the 100 health inspectors who have been sent out across the country to check on implementation of the new law. In the first three months, federal health ministry inspectors will only issue warnings, but after that fines will be applicable. The new law looked shaky in its first days when it was pointed out that the statute as published contained a sentence in French, which made it inapplicable in Flanders. But this last-ditch attempt by smokers to torpedo the legislation was unsuccessful. A complete ban in all cafes is expected in 2012. The new law does nothing to remedy a problem identified by the courts in 2009, when the previous law was ruled to be in breach of the principle of equality under the law. In an appeal brought by a bar owner who refused
to ban smokers from his premises, the court said the division of cafes according to sales of food was unlawful. The new law continues to apply the same distinction. Supporters of a total ban, including the League against Cancer, point out that the measure is intended to tackle the health risks of second-hand smoke, which go farther than the nuisance caused to diners. The league has promised to take legal action if its call for a total ban by 2012 is not met. The chances are very high that the first court case brought, whether by pro- or anti-smokers, will see the new law declared unlawful because the distinction between cafes is still present.
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continued on page 5 © Patrick de Spiegelaere/BELGA
ind power has long been heralded as one of the greenest ways for Europeans to keep the lights on. Simply by harnessing this natural resource, millions of homes across the continent could be powered without the use of a single piece of coal and its noxious, climate-altering emissions. Luckily then, amid last December’s gloomy, failed UN talks to reach a global deal on fighting climate change, there was a glimmer of hope on the environmental horizon as nine European nations, led by Belgium, signed an agreement to develop offshore wind power.