Helen Lyons

A special committee investigating the handling of Brussels' Metro 3 project has issued its findings and recommendations, concluding that the organisation, financing and planning of the project have proved to be unsuccessful.

The Brussels government is simplifying rules for renting out a home or room on Airbnb by removing the requirement for an urban planning certificate from 1 January 2027.

Belgian and foreign drivers will have to pay for a pass to use the country's motorways and regional roads from 1 May 2027.

A Brussels court has temporarily suspended the planned opening of a migrant reception centre in Uccle.

Hundreds of Audi workers who were laid off following the closure of the Brussels car factory are struggling to find new employment, new figures reveal.

Plans to redevelop Place Meiser, a major intersection in Schaerbeek notorious for its traffic safety problems, have been granted the go-head from Brussels' council of ministers, with works to start by summer 2027.

Construction work has begun on a monument to climate victims in Belgium, with various climate organisations and politicians marking the start of the project on Thursday in a special ceremony.

Brussels public transport operator Stib carried out almost two million ticket inspections across the capital’s bus, tram and metro networks in 2025 - an increase of more than 50% compared with 2022, new figures reveal.Inspection teams checked a record 1,978,755 passengers in 2025 and issued 121,876 fines. This means a recorded fraud rate of 6.16%, compared with 7.12% in 2022.In proportion to the number of inspections, the percentage of fines is lower than in previous years.“Although the number of fines issued rose by 35%, fraud fell in relative terms thanks to the significantly expanded inspection efforts,” Stib saidThe transport operator said that this trend was the result of a more efficient organisation of the inspection teams.By spreading inspections more evenly across the entire network and maintaining a visible presence throughout the day, Stib aims to discourage fare evasion and increase the likelihood of catching offenders.The stepped-up enforcement is primarily about fairness towards the vast majority of passengers who do pay the correct fare, the agency said.Stib added that revenue from tickets was essential for funding public transport, accounting for about a quarter of the transport company’s operating budget.“Anyone travelling without a valid ticket risks a fine of €107,” Stib added.“In the event of a repeat offence within a 24-month period, that amount doubles to €214.”In addition to checking tickets, the inspection teams also fulfil a broader role across the network. They answer passengers’ questions, offer assistance where necessary and, through their visible presence, help to create a greater sense of safety on buses, trams and the metro.Since 2023, Stib ticket inspectors have also had new powers to fight nuisances other than fare evasion, such as eating on-board, playing music or consuming alcohol.

The City of Brussels is seeking an operator for a light trail in Osseghem Park during the winter months, but experts are warning about damage to nature and the long-term privatisation of parks in general.The city is looking to make a regular new attraction in the park near the Atomium, describing their vision as an "immersive" and "family-friendly" light festival designed to guide visitors along a trail through the park from mid-October to early January.Such light festivals, often accompanied by music, have been in vogue for several years now. The nearby Meise Botanical Garden hosted a light trail last winter.But Ann Voets, art historian and landscape architect, warns that such light trails are damaging to nature.“A light trail like this places a very heavy burden on the park. If nature cannot recover during the winter, we’ll see the harmful consequences there after a few years,” Voets said, noting that the city failed to conduct a preliminary study to identify which areas should never be accessible, so as to allow certain animal species to sleep undisturbed.“Bats hunt nocturnal animals, but a light trail can disrupt the day-night rhythm of their prey. The bats will then be unable to find food."Brussels already scores abysmally in terms of light pollution. That’s why renature.brussels, the plan drawn up by Brussels Environment, advocates limiting it. How can this initiative be reconciled with that?"Ossegem Park is already under heavy strain in the summer due to Couleur Café, resulting in wear and tear on the grassy areas and disturbance to wildlife.“For a light trail, an operator will undoubtedly choose the most attractive spots in the park, such as the avenue and the Théâtre de Verdure,” said Voets.“The same parts of the park will thus be put under strain again, and for almost three months. The tender specifications also don’t mention a maximum number of visitors.”Another point of criticism is the privatisation and commercialisation of public space, which affects Brussels on a larger scale.VUB researcher Jozef Vandermeulen of the Cosmopolis Centre for Urban Research criticised the policy of Brussels mayor Philippe Close (PS) in a recent opinion piece, saying this increase in public-private partnerships has mixed social consequences: a financial benefit for the private operator and both advantages and disadvantages for the public partner.“In this case, the city council’s aim is quite transparent: a temporary privatisation of a public park to bolster public revenue and boost tourism, but this comes at the expense of a park that will not be accessible free of charge for three months and whose ecological balance will be further disrupted,” Vandermeulen said.“My feeling, based on the announcement, is that things are swinging far too far in the direction of private interests here. The scale of the closure, the final ticket prices and who will run the operation could still make a difference."If the operation were to be run by a non-profit organisation that reinvests the profits in the park’s biodiversity, I’d be able to take a much more positive view."Voets also sees a pattern, particularly with regard to the parks: “Just recently, we had a DJ set in Bois de la Cambre, the American-themed party in Cinquantenaire Park and the football fan villages in Wolvendael Park."Our parks, which should be protected because of their cooling effects in a warming climate, have become event venues. There are plenty of buildings and water features at the Heysel. Why not create a light trail there?”The call for tenders for the new light trail closed last week. The concession is renewable twice and may therefore be valid for three editions.It is not yet clear how many fully qualified candidates there are, but Brussels alderman for green spaces Florence Frelinx (MR) said that the administration was currently assessing which applications meet all the criteria.The operator will have full access to the entire park for the operation of the trail and may also install ticket offices, demountable food stalls and temporary toilets. The trail’s opening hours will be restricted to a maximum of four days a week, from 17.00 to 22.00.The city is hoping to profit from the event by collecting 10% of the gross revenue from admission fees and a fixed annual lump sum from the operator.But Voets said that this was nothing more than “putting on a show, because with 10% of ticket revenue, you can at best repair the damage caused”.Frelinx said that the event will be crafted in such a way to minimise the impact on nature.“The installations must be fully reversible, non-invasive and designed in such a way that their impact on fauna (birds, bats, amphibians), flora (trees, undergrowth, vulnerable soils) and the landscape is kept to a minimum,” the city council stipulated in the tender specifications.Frelinx wrote on social media the aim is to “upgrade Osseghem Park without compromising its character, offering a high-quality experience, while at the same time protecting nature and the living environment of local residents.”

A fourth group of unemployed people lost their entitlement to benefits on 1 July as part of ongoing federal cuts to the social safety net - affecting almost 9,000 people in the Brussels region alone.“What worries us is that our staff are still dealing with the fallout from the previous wave,” said a spokesperson for the capital’s public social welfare centres (CPASs).The federal government decided last year to impose a time limit on unemployment benefits, launching the first wave of the reform at the start of this year, when about 4,000 Brussels residents - people who had been unemployed for more than 20 years - lost their entitlement to benefits.A second group of more than 11,000 Brussels residents followed in March, then a third wave in April of 11,200.The fourth wave affects 8,985 people who have been unemployed for between one and two years and who had not worked sufficiently prior to that.“More people are being excluded from unemployment benefits this month than was initially anticipated: this fourth wave therefore threatens to be more severe than expected,” said Sébastien Lepoivre, chair of the federation of OCMWs.An estimated 15% of those affected by this fourth wave have already approached one of Brussels' 19 CPASs.In Schaerbeek alone, more than 1,000 residents are part of the latest wave. Of these, more than 300 have already turned to the social welfare centre.“For us, this is a tough wave, but we’ve prepared for it,” said Döne Sönmez, chair of the Schaerbeek CPAS.“We’ve reorganised our staff, with adjusted working hours, so that we can accommodate everyone. We will process all applications, even during the holidays.”But Lepoivre, who is also chair of the Evere CPAS, remains concerned about how the cases will be handled.“This is difficult from an organisational point of view because we’re in the holiday period and our staff need a holiday now more than ever,” said Lepoivre.“What worries us is that our staff are still processing the previous wave of applications."The federal government assumed that a third of those who lost their unemployment benefits would turn to a CPAS, but we believe that figure is as high as 60%. In nine out of 10 of those cases, a social assistance allowance is granted."Lepoivre does not believe that people from the fourth wave, who have experienced a shorter period of unemployment, are any closer to the labour market.“If that were the case, they would have found work by now,” said Lepoivre.“These are people who come to us because of all sorts of difficulties. They have no other way of surviving."The training centres are full, and there is hardly any work suited to their profiles. We’re not going to solve this with flexi-jobs."