Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BRUSSELS2199
2006-06-27 13:10:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

BELGIAN STEWPOT: June 26, 2006

Tags:  ECON EFIN EINV EAID EWWT EAIR BE 
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VZCZCXRO1800
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ
DE RUEHBS #2199/01 1781310
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271310Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2343
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 002199 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/ESC, EUR/ERA AND EUR/UBI
TREASURY FOR OASIA/ICN - ATUKORALA
USDOC FOR 3133/USFCS/OIO/EUR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV EAID EWWT EAIR BE
SUBJECT: BELGIAN STEWPOT: June 26, 2006

Ref: (A) Brussels 1876 (B) 05 Brussels 4385

1-2. Belgium More Wired than EU Average

3. Ten Candles for Thalys
4-5. Economy Grows, Though Savings Drop

6. Quickenborne Lives Up to His Name...
7-9. Women Under-represented in Corporate Boards
10-12.Peace Corps-Type Voluntary Service for Belgian Youths

13. Chocolate: Good Tasting and Good For You Too

14. A/C Workers Protest Hot Working Conditions

------------------------------------
Belgium More Wired than EU Average
------------------------------------
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 002199

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EB/ESC, EUR/ERA AND EUR/UBI
TREASURY FOR OASIA/ICN - ATUKORALA
USDOC FOR 3133/USFCS/OIO/EUR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV EAID EWWT EAIR BE
SUBJECT: BELGIAN STEWPOT: June 26, 2006

Ref: (A) Brussels 1876 (B) 05 Brussels 4385

1-2. Belgium More Wired than EU Average

3. Ten Candles for Thalys
4-5. Economy Grows, Though Savings Drop

6. Quickenborne Lives Up to His Name...
7-9. Women Under-represented in Corporate Boards
10-12.Peace Corps-Type Voluntary Service for Belgian Youths

13. Chocolate: Good Tasting and Good For You Too

14. A/C Workers Protest Hot Working Conditions

--------------
Belgium More Wired than EU Average
--------------

1. (U) In May, EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding
levied a general criticism at European countries for lagging behind
on implementing fast new technologies. The commissioner lamented
Europe's slow take-up of new high-speed communications technologies
such as broadband internet, telecommunications, and digital
broadcasting. Belgium, however, is doing better than most. A 2005
survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) ranks Belgium 10th overall among OECD countries in broadband
penetration, with a total of 18.3 broadband subscribers per 100
inhabitants. Just four EU countries (Netherlands, Denmark, Finland,
and Sweden),Switzerland and Norway rank ahead of Belgium. Belgium
surpasses the U.S., which ranks 12th with 16.8 broadband subscribers
per 100 inhabitants.


2. (U) Meanwhile, three Belgian Federal Ministers are doing their
part to make internet access more widely available in Belgium.
Under the slogan "Internet for All," a letter from Prime Minister
Verhofstadt, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Reynders,
and Minister of Employment and "Informatization" Vanvelthoven, was
sent to nearly every Belgian household this spring. The letter
offers an internet package that includes: a computer with basic
accessories, internet connection for one year, installation, and
elementary training. As a further incentive, subscribers may deduct
the 21 percent VAT from their Belgian taxes for 2007. The package

costs 850 euros for a desktop or 990 euros for a laptop - a bargain
compared to prevailing costs of similar equipment and service in
Europe.

--------------
Ten Candles for Thalys
--------------

3. (U) Thalys, the high speed passenger train that links Brussels
with Paris, Amsterdam, and Cologne celebrated 10 years of service in
early June. The Thalys venture is 70 percent owned by the French
national railway operator, SNCF, and 30 percent owned by Belgium's
national railways, SNCB/NMBS. More than 52 million passengers have
traveled on the Thalys during its first decade. In 1997, the line's
first full year of operation, revenue exceeded 110 million euros.
By 2005, earnings had more than tripled to 335 million euros. The
fast train has largely supplanted air travel between Paris and
Brussels, and Belgian officials credit the line with a 10 percent
increase in French tourists visiting Belgium during the 10 years
since the line's inception. For hoteliers, there is a downside.
The rapidity of travel means that many visitors return to France the
same day, rather than overnighting in Belgium. The Brussels-Paris
route, which takes about one hour and twenty-five minutes, is the
only Thalys route making a profit; both the Brussels-Cologne and
Brussels-Amsterdam routes operate at a loss.

-------------- ---
Economy Growing Smartly as Consumer Savings Drop
-------------- ---

4. (U) Confirming earlier estimates (ref A),the Belgian National
Bank reports that Belgium's economy should grow by 2.5 percent in
2006 and by 1.8 percent in 2007. This growth could yield 80,000
jobs in the next two years. "Belgium is no longer the sick man of
Europe -- as it was in the early Eighties," National Bank Governor
Guy Quaden said on June 12 when he presented his interim forecast.
Quaden also lauded the spectacular rise in Belgium's business
confidence indicator, which reached a record in June; this indicator
has become a reliable forecaster of Eurozone growth in the 9-12
month timeframe.


5. (U) He warned against overoptimism, however, because Belgium's
labor costs remain higher than in neighboring countries, which
dampens both domestic and foreign direct investment. Quaden also
warned that without additional revenue enhancement or
belt-tightening, Belgium's 2007 Federal budget is heading for a 4.5
billion euro deficit.

--------------
Quickenborne Lives Up to His Name
--------------

BRUSSELS 00002199 002 OF 003



6. (U) Belgian Secretary of State for Administrative Simplification
Vincent van Quickenborne seems determined to live up to his name.
On June 1, a program conceived by his office went into effect,
reducing the average days required to create a new business in
Belgium from 56 to 3. Van Quickenborne claims this is the shortest
in Europe. This vast reduction in processing time was achieved by
removing some of the formalities of the application process and by
the introduction of an "e-depot" at the office of the notary. The
e-depot allows the entrepreneur to fill out and sign electronically
a single form sent instantaneously to the appropriate Belgian
agencies, eliminating duplicate paperwork and time spent waiting in
lines to receive operating permits. This improved registration
procedure should help encourage new business creation and investment
in Belgium.

--------------
Women Under-Represented in Corporate Belgium
--------------

7. (U) According to a study by the European Board Women's Monitor,
Belgian companies score below the EU average for the percentage of
women with corporate board functions. Of Belgian companies
surveyed, women occupy only 5.8 percent of corporate board slots,
against an EU average of 8.5 percent. Although this reflects almost
a doubling of the 2004 score of 3 percent, Belgium joins five other
EU countries at the bottom on this statistic.


8. (U) When asked why Belgium scores so poorly on this criterion,
the president of the Belgian Association of Women Business Leaders
said Belgium still exhibited the "glass ceiling" that slows entry of
women into the highest levels of corporate responsibility. She also
noted that Belgium lags other countries in providing structural
assistance through social services to help women entering the
workforce, such as affordable daycare and flexible working hours.
The lobbyist faulted Federal Minister of Social Integration and
Equal Opportunity Christian Dupont for not doing more to promote
women in executive authority.


9. (U) At a recent AmCham event, Flanders Region Economic Minister
Fientje Moerman was asked her view of the study. She noted that
partly the society did not provide the tools women needed to
succeed, but partly women made choices favoring family and other
interests over career advancement. Moerman, who has a young adult
daughter, has worked in the private sector as well as at the local,
regional, and federal levels of the Belgian government.

-------------- --------------
Peace Corps-Type Voluntary Service for Belgian Youths
-------------- --------------

10. (U) On June 22 Belgian Federal Minister of Cooperation and
Development Armand De Decker announced a program that will allow
Belgian young people to offer concrete support to Belgium's 18
"development partner" countries. The program, signed into law by
Royal Decree in May 2006, calls for youths to work together in
"solidarity" to provide assistance to targeted developing countries
while informing the Belgian public about aid and development issues.
Another goal of the program is to groom members of the next
generation to become aid workers. Open to persons age 20 or under,
the program envisions sending up to 100 young people abroad annually
for three-year missions in one of five sectors: health care,
education, agriculture and food security, infrastructure, and
community building.


11. (U) After a screening process and successful passage of written
and oral examinations, selected candidates will undergo brief
training before being sent overseas. While in the field, volunteers
will receive a monthly stipend and defrayed expenses for travel,
lodging, health care, and insurance. Registration for the first
cycle of 50 volunteers is underway until July 2; more than 1,000
young Belgians have already applied. Belgian officials hope that
the first wave of 50 volunteers will be ready to ship out by the end
of 2006, and a second wave of 50 in the spring of 2007.


12. (U) The 18 destination countries are those with which Belgium
already has direct bilateral aid programs, including 13 in Africa:
Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania,
South Africa, Mozambique, Morocco, Algeria, Benin, Niger, Senegal,
and Mali. Bolivia, Ecuador, Palestine, Peru and Vietnam complete
the list.

--------------
Good Tasting and Good For You
--------------

13. (U) Belgian chocolate producer Barry Callebaut, which claims to
be the world's biggest processor of cocoa beans, has developed a new
processing method said to preserve more of chocolate's natural
health benefits in the final product. Chocolate is a good source of
antioxidants, and according to Callebaut, his "Acticoa" process

BRUSSELS 00002199 003 OF 003


brings as much as 80% of chocolate's naturally occurring
antioxidants to consumers, compared to 25% with standard cocoa bean
processing technology. The first products using the new method are
due on the market in 2007. This development adds to a growing
emphasis on health-focused publicity for chocolate (ref B). It may
also be a boon for the industry as a whole, as health-conscious
consumers find a justification for having just one more little
piece.

--------------
Hot Irony for A/C Workers
--------------

14. (U) 1200 Workers at the Daikin Europe N.V. air conditioning
manufacturing plant in Oostend (on Belgium's seacoast) are
protesting ... hot working conditions. A recent heat wave saw
temperatures in the plant soar to above 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30
Celsius),which union representative Diego Vermeerch called
unbearable. Plant manager Dirk Salembier acknowledged that
temperatures in the factory had been an issue, but claimed that the
union-specified limit of less than 26.7 degrees Celsius was being
maintained. A new ventilation system will be installed in August,
but (oddly) not air conditioning, which Salembier claims the plant's
construction will not support.

Korologos