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21/11/2008

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Vaes, Bénédicte

4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Le Soir - Belgium | 23/07/2007

Yves Leterme, a little lost in Belgium

Yves Leterme, Belgium's future Prime Minister, made a blunder on Saturday July 21st, the Belgian national holiday. When journalists asked him to sing the Belgian national anthem, 'Le Barbançonne', he sung the French national anthem 'La Marseillaise'. "One can hardly imagine Nicolas Sarkozy singing 'God Save the Queen on Bastille day, any more than Angela Merkel breaking into 'Fratelli d'Italia'. Such a thing could only happen here, in this country marked by multiple borders and fluctuating identities", comments Bénédicte Vaes. "This is not some Belgian prank. It might be interpreted as a subliminal message to the French. The man who previously represented the Flanders region is having some difficulty donning his new federal get-up. This July 21st it felt as if Mr. Belgium was on an official visit abroad, in the Kingdom of Belgium."

Le Soir - Belgium | 04/12/2006

The defence of workers has become a "virtual battle"

A demonstration took place in Brussels on Saturday, December 2nd, in support of the Forest Volkswagen factory, almost 4,000 among them being threatened with dismissal. "On Saturday, the VW workers were cheered on like heroes by all those who demonstrated their solidarity. On Sunday there were only ten on the picket line", comments the editorialist Bénédicte Vaes. "The time when the whole Liège region downed tools is long passed. Nowadays multinationals suppress jobs from a distance with the flick of a remote control. The enemy no longer has a face. The battle has become virtual. ... Politicians admit their inability to regulate economy as in the time of the Nation-State. Europe, having taken up the reigns, is entirely assigned to free competition. ... Social Europe does not exist. It does not feature on the Union's programme."

Le Soir - Belgium | 20/11/2006

The Pipe dream of a social Europe

Bénédicte Vaes reacts in an editorial to the shake-up of the German manufacturer Volkswagen that is due to concern several European countries and notably Belgium. "German metal workers have accepted to work longer for the same pay in exchange for the guarantee of employment ... at the expense of other factories. It is hard to imagine that such a tempting offer could have been turned down in a Belgian company. This is the proof that social Europe is indeed more an incarnation, a dream, than a reality, perhaps even against nature. How, in the EU, built on a liberal model, could it be otherwise? The union is devoted to the free market. To render it social is a wager. Sometimes we manage to combine solidarities despite national egoism. ... Volkswagen will reveal whether unbridled competition pushes employees to war."

Le Soir - Belgium | 18/08/2006

Wounding words from the Minister-President of Flanders

Leader writer Benedice Vaes reacts strongly to statements from the Minister-President of Flanders Yves Leterme in an interview to the French daily 'Libération' published on August 17. "The boss of Flanders is a tightrope walker, teetering between autonomy and independence. He swears he is no separatist, while adding quietly 'in the short term'. But in his interview to 'Libération' the boss of Flanders breaks the bounds. His tone is, for French-speakers, arrogant and vexing ... Leterme states that the French-speakers of the periphery [those who live in towns in Flemish-speaking Belgium] 'are not intellectually fit enough to learn Flemish'. His wording is ambiguous, the message offensive. It is wounding for all those who, in increasing numbers, attend language classes and send their children to immersion courses. Leterme takes perverse pleasure in paralysing the efforts to open up to the other community."

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