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The federal government is considering whether to begin an investigation into the possible presence of natural hydrogen in Belgium after a large hydrogen bubble was discovered in northeastern France.

Last year, Belgium’s National Crisis Center (NCCN) opened 74 new protection files concerning 115 people under threat, a slight increase on the previous year. In total, 174 individuals are currently receiving some form of protection.

Belgium intends to place an order this year for additional F-35 fighter jets, Defence minister Theo Francken told the specialised website Breaking Defense. He stressed that the American-made aircraft should be “as European as possible”.

In a new advisory opinion, the Council of State is highly critical of the federal government’s planned VAT reform. The government body has serious concerns about the different VAT rates in the cultural sector and for takeaway meals. The VAT reform is an important part of the budget agreement that was concluded at the end of last year.

Flemish environment minister Jo Brouns has granted an environmental permit for the steam cracker of chemical company BASF Antwerp, one of the largest industrial units in Belgium. In doing so, Brouns has rejected the appeal lodged by environmental associations Bond Beter Leefmilieu and Dryade against the permit granted by the province of Antwerp last summer.

Belgian politics has been shaken by new questions over the failed i-Police digital system for the police, a project that cost tens of millions of euros and was later scrapped.

Belgian inflation fell to 1.1 per cent year on year in January, down from 2.06 percent in December, statistics agency Statbel announced on Thursday. It is the lowest inflation rate since November 2023, when it stood at 0.76 per cent.

Starting Monday, Belgium will participate in the international reconnaissance mission in Greenland. The Ministry of Defence will send one officer to the Arctic region for this purpose. This was announced on Friday by Minister of Defence Theo Francken and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot.

The government is set to cut almost half a billion euros from Belgium’s federal civil service over the coming years. The savings will come mainly from limiting staff replacements and introducing higher employer pension contributions for new permanent officials, according to budget documents reported by De Standaard and Het Belang van Limburg.

With an average temperature of 12.0°C, 2025 ranked - together with 2014 - as the fourth warmest year since systematic observations began in 1833. Only 2020 and 2022 (both 12.2°C) and 2023 (12.1°C) were warmer. This was reported on Thursday by Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI).

Belgium’s Christian Democrat party CD&V is calling for urgent help for more than 10,000 unemployed people who risk losing their benefits but are seen as unable to move into work because of medical, mental, social or learning problems.

Prime minister Bart De Wever is proud that Belgium was able to contribute to a solution for Ukraine’s financing by being “constructive and steadfast”, he said after the European summit in Brussels. EU leaders agreed on a loan of 90 billion euros for Ukraine, guaranteed by the EU budget and by frozen Russian assets.

Russia’s central bank has filed a lawsuit in Moscow against Euroclear, demanding 18.2 trillion roubles, or about 200 billion euros. The case was reported by the Russian state news agency Tass.

Rail operator SNCB is increasing its train service from Sunday, with more trains at the end of the day, better IC connections at weekends and an expanded suburban network around Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Charleroi.

The federal government’s inner cabinet reached an agreement on Thursday night on the loose ends left unresolved after the multi-year budget, according to several government sources. Key outstanding issues included the deployment of military personnel on the streets and measures to address prison overcrowding.

EU defence chiefs are urging Belgium to let the bloc use frozen Russian central-bank assets to buy urgently needed weapons for Ukraine. They warn that Kyiv could run out of ammunition by spring.

Ethical hackers in Belgium have uncovered 96 vulnerabilities in public services in recent weeks, a sharp increase compared with 2024. The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) reported the figures on Wednesday evening.

At least 700 artificial intelligence start-ups are operating in Belgium. More than half are based in major cities, especially Brussels and Flanders. Only a small share is highly profitable, while many others are seeing rising losses, according to an analysis published on Tuesday by the Federal Planning Bureau and Ghent University.

Belgian non-profit Re-born to be Alive has launched “Virtual Donors”, a campaign aimed at raising awareness of organ donation through popular video games including Minecraft, Fortnite and Baldur’s Gate 3.

Flemish socialist party Vooruit is calling on Flemish public broadcaster VRT to push for an investigation into the televoting system within the EBU (European Broadcasting Union), the organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest. That the Israeli contestant received 12 points from the Belgian public, while the expert jury gave none, raises questions about manipulation – just like in Spain.

There is a high risk that the payback effects the Belgian government is counting on to reduce its budget deficit have been greatly overestimated, according to the Court of Audit. Opposition parties criticized the government for failing to keep its most important promise. ** The government expects to see a return of 7.9 billion euros from boosting the employment rate, but it is overestimating both the size of the group and the yield per person employed. That is according to the Court of Audit’s opinion on the budget, which was submitted to members of parliament on Friday.

The Flemish government is introducing stricter labour migration policies aimed at reducing the number of non-EU workers, particularly those with low qualifications. However, a recent OECD report warns that such restrictions could harm Flanders’ economy.

The court of first instance in Brussels has condemned the Flemish government for failing to adequately protect the wild hamster, reported environmental organisations Dryade and Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen (Bird Protection Flanders). The government must now take measures, including providing a required minimum area of suitable habitat and a sufficiently large hamster population.

Leider hab ich keine gute deutsche Quelle gefunden.

The Europol chief said that in a digital environment, the police needed to be able to decode these messages to fight crime. “You will not be able to enforce democracy without it,” she added.