Belgium

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld a Belgian ban on wearing the niqab, a full-face veil, in public spaces. The court dismissed two cases, Belcacemi and Oussar v. Belgium and Dakir v. Belgium, that asserted the ban was in violation of Articles 8, 9, 10 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Both cases concerned women who chose to wear the veil of their own volition and felt the ban was discriminatory and without a "legitimate aim." The court rejected the claims that the ban violated a right to private life under the Convention finding that it "could be regarded as proportionate to the aim pursued, namely the preservation of the conditions of ‘living together’ as an element of the ‘protection of the rights and freedoms of others’."

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported on Tuesday that Belgium has the highest tax rate when comparing 35 developed countries around the world while Germany (49.4%), Hungary (48.2 %) and France (48.1%) are also close to the 50 per cent mark. Switzerland is in the end of the ranking, with 21.8%. The lowest were in Chile (7%), New Zealand (17.9%) and Mexico (20.1%).

The OECD calculated each country’s tax wedge – the gap between what employers take home in pay and what it costs to employ them, including personal income tax and social security contributions.

The Belgian government and its regions have reached an agreement over the CETA trade pact between the EU and Canada, Prime Minister Charles Michel told reporters in Brussels. Early in the morning he said on Twitter: “Belgian agreement on #CETA . All parliaments are now able to approve by tomorrow at midnight. Important step for EU and Canada".

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau has cancelled a trip to Brussels, as Belgium failed on Wednesday to clear internal opposition to the EU-Canada free-trade pact (Ceta). "Canada remains ready to sign this important agreement when Europe is ready," Alex Lawrence, the spokesperson for Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, told German news agency DPA.

Ceta, the trade agreement between Eu and Canada, could go in flame. Today, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland’s efforts to convince the holdout Belgian region of Wallonia to agree to the European Union’s wide-ranging free trade deal with Canada have ended without a resolution.
All 28 EU governments support the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), but Belgium cannot give assent without backing from five sub-federal administrations and French-speaking Wallonia has steadfastly opposed it. Wallonia counts about 3.5 million people, less than 1% of the 507 million Europeans CETA would affect. The deal aims to eliminate 98% of tariffs between Canada and EU.