expat time - ING Belgium · 2016-06-27 · expat time • summer • 2016 • 7 Edgar is from the Netherlands; his wife is from India. They have a three-year-old son and 18-month-old

Summer 2016 • n°14expat time

Essential lifestyle and business insights for foreign nationals in Belgium

IntervIew

“Medical breakthroughs are what motivate us”

Patricia Massetti, managing director MSD Belgium and Luxembourg

In thIs IssueThe Red Devils: marketing a global brand

How travel agents are embracing the internet era

Focus on financial technology

expat time • summer • 2016 • 3

widening horizons

After the tragic events in Brussels in March, it’s good to see home-grown initiatives bringing people together to improve Belgium’s image. Yes2Belgium, Sprout to be Brussels and VisitBrussels’ Mixity campaign

are a few examples. Fears over security have made flying in and out of the country a little trickier, and with summer approaching, everyone is hoping the transport situation will run smoothly. In this issue we look into the travel industry and consider how contemporary travel agents are upping their game.

For our cover interview, we talk to Patricia Massetti of pharmaceutical company MSD. She shares some insights into the world of medical research and innovation, while in our business pages we check out the ING FinTech Village, set up to encourage future entrepreneurs. Self-starter Anne-Sophie van den Born Rehfeld of The Library Group co-working site talks about establishing her business in Brussels. Meanwhile, Belgium is preparing for football fever as its national team take on Europe’s finest in Euro 2016. We look at how the team and its celebrity players market their image. If you want to escape the football, we propose a number of cultural getaways in our agenda, and you can switch off altogether with inspiration from our travel focus on places to escape the stress of daily life.

Enjoy the summer!

Dave DeruytterHead of expatriates and non-residents ING [email protected]/expatING Expat is also on Facebook: facebook.com/ingexpats

40 i best of belgium 2016

BUSINESSIf you plan to set up

your own business in

Belgium, all the rules

and regulations can be

off-putting. Here we

list the contact details

of organisations who

can advise you in your

new venture. We also

provide information on

EU institution offices,

relocation agencies, banks

and accountants

040_047_BB16_Di business.indd 40

2/06/16 12:15


Culture can be had for a song too. Most Brussels

museums – including the Royal Museums of Fine

Arts and family favourite the Museum of Natural

History – waive admission on certain days.

The first Wednesday and Sunday of the month

is a popular choice. A further 32 museums are

free all year round. These include some niche

institutions like the Museum of the National

Bank of Belgium and the Confederate Museum.

brusselsmuseums.be

Brussels and its communes sponsor free

concerts and festivals varying in scope from

neighbourhood block party to national holiday.

Individual communes host their own events,

there’s the annual Iris Fest, the biannual Zinneke

parade, and the European institutions’ free

Europe Day open house featuring information

and entertainment. Other free activities include

Fête de la Musique in June and Heritage Days

in September. The biggest free event of the

year, however, is National Day, 21 July, when

tens of thousands of Belgians celebrate their

independence at open-air venues across the city.

For those keen to get out of the crowd, Brussels

Greeters offers a more personalised city

experience. The free service matches visitors

with amateur local guides who can take their

guests off the beaten path. The concept was born

decades ago in New York but has since spread

around the world. Several other Belgian cities

(Antwerp, Liège, Charleroi, Mons and Namur)

are also part of the Global Greeter Network.

greeters.be

The local community can be tapped for goods

as well as know-how. The Freecycle Network is

another concept that originated in the US before

plugging into communities around the world,

and is a forum for recycling unwanted products.

The only criteria: all posted items must be free,

legal and appropriate for all ages. You’ll find

books, clothes, appliances and furniture – all free

and ready for local pickup.

freecycle.org

europe day

blow hairdressing

010_013_BB16_free activities.indd 12

2/06/16 11:58


educationBelgium has a host of

excellent schools, with

many international schools

in and around Brussels.

Here we provide you with

information on some of the

popular schools for expats,

along with language

courses, universities,

colleges and business

schools

056_071_BB16_Di education.indd 56

2/06/16 12:19 best of belgium 2016 i 27

mim

While many tourists flock to Brussels’ Museum

of Musical Instruments (MIM) to peruse its

7,000 instruments stacked over five floors of

a neoclassical complex, a significant majority

of sightseers instead take the elevator straight

to the top of ‘Old England’ to experience the

museum’s renowned sixth floor: its restaurant

and cafe (above). Tourists can take in the

breathtaking views of the capital as well as the

elegance of the Art Nouveau building from the

terrace around the dome. There’s no need to pay

an entrance fee to access the top floor, but you

might be coaxed into ordering some carbonnade

flamande to take in the view a little longer. KH

mim.be

BeLvue

Occupying the interior courtyard of this elegant

18th-century townhouse, the Green Kitchen

restaurant (below) is a garden sanctuary in

the busy museum quarter of Place des Palais.

While the museum is devoted to Belgium’s

national history, the restaurant menu features

a self-service salad bar (priced according to

weight), soups, sandwiches and hot dishes.

Favouring fresh seasonal produce, it’s perfect for

vegetarians and healthy eaters. At weekends and

holidays, there’s a brunch menu and if you’re

visiting the museum, show your entrance ticket

and benefit from a meal package for breakfast,

lunch or tea. SC

belvue.be

026_029_BB16_museum cafe.indd 27

2/06/16 12:06

At newsstands or at www.thebulletin.be

mim

While many tourists flock to Brussels’ Museum

of Musical Instruments (MIM) to peruse its

7,000 instruments stacked over five floors of

a neoclassical complex, a significant majority

of sightseers instead take the elevator straight

to the top of ‘Old England’ to experience the

museum’s renowned sixth floor: its restaurant

and cafe (above). Tourists can take in the

breathtaking views of the capital as well as the

elegance of the Art Nouveau building from the

terrace around the dome. There’s no need to pay

an entrance fee to access the top floor, but you

might be coaxed into ordering some carbonnade

flamande to take in the view a little longer. KH

mim.be

BeLvue

Occupying the interior courtyard of this elegant

18th-century townhouse, the Green Kitchen

restaurant (below) is a garden sanctuary in

the busy museum quarter of Place des Palais.

While the museum is devoted to Belgium’s

national history, the restaurant menu features

a self-service salad bar (priced according to

weight), soups, sandwiches and hot dishes.

Favouring fresh seasonal produce, it’s perfect for

vegetarians and healthy eaters. At weekends and

holidays, there’s a brunch menu and if you’re

visiting the museum, show your entrance ticket

and benefit from a meal package for breakfast,

lunch or tea. SC

belvue.be


ALSO INSIDE: YOUR ESSENTIAL 45-PAGE EXPAT DIRECTORY

DEPOT BRUXELLES X

BEST OF BELGIUM 2016 • €4,95

Best of BelgiumTHE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO TOURISM AND LIFESTYLE

BELGIQUE C’EST CHICFashion, food and family fun: Belgium delivers with style

Find the funniest comedy gigs 8 top free events & attractions Dive into open-water sports Eurovision highs & lows

001_001_BB16_cover_.indd 3

2/06/16 15:19

ON SALE NOW!

Best of Belgium Plus Expat Directory 2016

� e insider’s guide to lifestyle, tourism and culture

BB Expat time 2016.indd 1 7/06/16 11:45


In thIs Issue

6 PrOFILes

Meet four expats living in Belgium

8 IntervIew

Patricia Massetti on pharmaceutical innovation

14 FInAnCe

How ING Belgium supports technological entrepreneurs

16 BusIness

How 21st-century travel agents are thriving in an online age

20 entrePreneur

Meet the founder of co-working company The Library Group

22 trAveL

Disconnect with these off-the-grid destinations

24 LIFestYLe

Off-pitch strategies for branding the Red Devils

28 teChnOLOgY

New apps and gadgets

29 AgenDA

Cultural highlights in Brussels, Belgium and further afield

33 whAt’s new

Snacks, spirits and summer accessories

34 LAst wOrD

Derek Blyth muses on life in Belgium

Editor • Sarah Crew

Deputy editor • Sally Tipper

Art director • Patricia Brossel

Project coordinator • Thomas

Buytaert

Contributors • Derek Blyth • Bartosz

Brzezinski • Leo Cendrowicz • Ronald

Meeusi • Linda A Thompson • Georgio

Valentino

Cover • Patricia Massetti, by Bart

Dewaele

Sales executive • Helena

Vreedenburgh

Account executive • Evelyne

Fregonese

Expat Time is a publication of

ING BELGIUM SA/NV,

Marnixlaan 24,

1000 Brussel, RPR Brussel

VAT BE 403.200.393 and

Ackroyd Publications SA/NV

Editorial • Content Connections

(department of Ackroyd) and

ING BELGIUM

Publisher • Hans De Loore,

Gossetlaan 30

1702 Groot-Bijgaarden

Photo credits

P5 Bart Dewaele; Konstantina

Karadimitropoulu; Janet Cardiff/

George Bures Miller/Sammlung

Verbund Collection, Vienna.

Courtesy the artists, Galerie

Barbara Weiss, Berlin

P8-12 Bart Dewaele

P14 CSP Almagami

P16 Nano Calvo

P19 Courtesy Connections

P22 Courtesy Grand Duchy of

Luxembourg

P23 Meditate, Go Zen & Back to

Nature, Kathleen Goossens;

Camp & Trek, courtesy Grand

Duchy of Luxembourg

P24 Rizzoli/Belga

P25 Bruno Fahy/Belga

P26 Jasper Jacobs/Belga

P27 Bruno Fahy/Belga

P29 Denis Danze

P30 Mima, The Pickles/Mima;

Summer of Photography, Ikere

Jones; Gentse Feesten, Stad

Gent

P31 Zomer van Antwerpen, Sigrid

Spinnox; Pukkelpop, Jokko

P32 Flower Carpet, Eric Danhier/

Visit Brussels; En Plein Air,

JP Ers/Ville de Liège; Game

Changers, Comme des

Garçons, A/W 2012-13, photo

Sophie Delaporte

22

29

8

16

29

6 • expat time • summer • 2016

Kirsten Jongberg“we want to make the european Parliament a must-see on a visit to Brussels”“My father worked for Nato and I spent my childhood in France, Denmark and Belgium. After studying in Maastricht and the UK, I worked as a management consultant in London. I moved back to Brus-sels to work with the European Parliament in the visits and seminars unit. I jumped at the opportunity to work at the Parliament’s Liaison Office with the US Congress in Washington DC, then returned to Brussels as a project manager working on the Parliament’s visitor strategy last year. Openness towards citizens is a core principle, and there are various services open to the public: the Parlamentarium, hemi-cycle visits and, from November, the House of European History (europarl.europa.eu/visiting). We want to make the Parliament a must-see during a visit to Brussels and Belgium. We’ve just launched an app that lets visitors do a self-guided tour, and among other projects are the esplanade and the old station, soon to be refurbished as our new welcome centre. Outside work I’ve always loved to travel: I will be heading to South Africa and Mozambique for Christmas and I’m hoping to visit Cuba at Easter.”

Kirsten has dual Danish and American nationality and lives in Schaerbeek

Bryan Clayson“we’re trying to cram in as much travel as possible”“I’m from the US and have been in Belgium just over a year. I work for a Japanese company as a materials engineer, helping to develop and introduce new materials for cars. My main interests outside work are cooking and eating, and as my position here is temporary, we’re trying to cram in as much travel as possible. So we like to combine the two and try all the local specialities: Turkish breakfast, Dutch cheese, Spanish tapas, Icelandic skyr, Belgian beer, Swiss raclette, Danish smorrebrod. I try to squeeze in a few runs a week to burn off those calories, or, if we’re travelling we like to look for places with hiking or other outdoor activities. We’re trying to take our holidays at non-European standard times. So we went to Turkey in April and to Morocco in May. We also loved watching the puffins and hiking in Iceland. We spend a lot of weekends exploring Belgium. Some of our favourite experiences have been the Ypres Cat Festival, visiting a snail farm in Warnant, hiking the Haute Fagnes and eating beer ice cream at the ruined abbey at Orval.”

Bryan and his wife, Michelle, are American and live in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre

Profiles •

get connectedFour expats tell us about their lives in Belgium


Edgar is from the Netherlands; his wife is from India. They have a three-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter

Edgar Hütte“Belgium and the surrounding countries have so much to offer”

“I’m from the Netherlands and have been living in Brussels since 2010. I’ve also lived in Berlin, the US, France, Italy and India. I’m the founder

and director of Xross Global Group, the company behind Expat Club. I was doing freelance management consulting and interim management, but since 2013 I’ve been increasingly busy with Expat Club. It started with local events and some trips, but now I’m responsible for the club’s development in the broadest sense: website design, managing the membership community and developing and hosting events. Before moving to Belgium I lived with my wife, Shantala, in Mumbai. It’s a great, vibrant city, but air pollution and incredible traffic jams can make living there very hard. We considered many places but Brussels just started making sense: close to my home country, nice city with many things to do, an international community, job opportunities... We don’t have any specific holiday plans; with two small children I would rather stay closer to home. Belgium and the surrounding countries have so much to offer such as the seaside and the Ardennes. However, I wouldn’t mind exploring some of France.”

Sangeetha Shinde“this summer I hope to see Istanbul and the Alhambra”

“I was born in India, growing up in the Nilgiri mountains of Tamil Nadu, a place I describe as the last bastion of the British Raj in India. After university I moved to

Bangalore and then went seeking fame and fortune in the United Arab Emirates, before pursuing an MBA in the UK. From there I shifted to Jordan, where I worked in publish-ing, and seven years later I was back in the UK, this time to write a book. I’m now managing editor of The Business Innovator. I moved to Brussels in 2013 because many of our clients and stakeholders were based here. Living in Belgium has been wonder-

ful; it’s a manageable city, one with a heart, and it’s cheaper than anywhere else I’ve lived – not factoring in taxes, of

course. Now I plan to start a small social enterprise (on-lyprana.com), selling affordable, high-quality Indian

soft furnishings with some of the profits benefiting an animal charity in India. This summer I hope to see Istanbul and the Alhambra, two places on my bucket list, and try and complete and find a pub-lisher for my next book, the fictionalised true story of a slum-dweller in India who has been bought

and sold three times: the real slum dog who never became a millionaire…”

Sangeetha is from India and lives in Etterbeek


Patricia Massetti is managing director of MSD Belgium and Luxembourg, a leading international pharmaceutical company

with headquarters in Brussels and a manufacturing site at Heist-op-den-Berg. Massetti, a French native, completed a bachelor of commerce at EDHEC business school in Lille and an MBA at the University of Montréal in Canada. She is vice-president of Pharma.be, the industry association for research-based pharmaceutical companies in Belgium and vice-president of AmCham Belgium, the American Chamber of Commerce. Massetti spoke to ING’s head of expatriates, Dave Deruytter, about the dynamic environment, the new frontiers of science, and the transformation of the pharmaceutical industry.

why did you enter the pharma industry?

Pharmaceuticals, I think, was really a choice. I had studied business so I could have gone anywhere; I had a background in finance and marketing, but when I saw the difference you can make in people’s well-being with pharmaceuticals, it was almost like a vocation. So when positions opened up in the pharma sector, I just took the opportunity. And I’ve been very happy with my choice.

how did you end up back in europe after working in Canada?

For two years I had the opportunity to work across Canada on various policy

The next frontier✶ By Linda A Thompson

Photos by Bart Dewaele

Pharma industry expert Patricia Massetti on investments, treatments and the future of medicine

Interview •


“Aging means more care, and more care means more healthcare-related expenses”


Interview •

and market access files. I was later asked to continue my development as managing director for Denmark and Iceland where I stayed for 18 months. From there I was offered the position I have now in Belgium and Luxembourg. Over the years, Merck/MSD has been an organisation where I have truly been able to learn and continuously develop myself.

what does MsD stand for as a company? MSD is a multinational pharmaceutical company present in 140 countries, so we have a strong footprint worldwide. Our global head offices are in New Jersey. We employ 68,000 people and are present in a number of therapeutic domains, both in human and animal health. In human health, we concentrate our research and development mostly in oncology, immunology, diabetes, infectious diseases (hepatitis C, HIV and development of new antibiotics), Alzheimer’s and vaccines.

We are a company that heavily invests in research and development and we’ve introduced a number of breakthrough therapies over the years, such as penicillin and cortisol. In the past 10 years, we’ve had breakthroughs in diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, the human papillomavirus (HPV) and oncology, particularly melanoma. We are very active in the fight against cancer; we are working on a new mechanism of action that ‘awakens and boosts’ the immune system to recognise and fight cancer cells. It’s not as invasive as chemotherapy and doesn’t cause as many side-effects. With immunotherapy, there is now hope that you could turn cancer into a chronic rather than a lethal disease. This type of breakthrough is a real source of motivation for all of us at MSD, and we do our best to bring these innovations to patients as soon as possible.

what does corporate social responsibility mean to the company?

It’s a really important part of our corporate culture; it’s a form of giving back to the communities where we live and work. Yes, we are making profits and we need to continually attract investment in our company so we can continue in turn to invest heavily in research and development, but in return, we also dedicate our resources to activities that tackle some of the most difficult public health challenges. For instance, at global level, we have MSD for Mothers, an initiative worth $500 million over 10 years aimed at preventing maternal mortality, mostly in the global South, and to ensure equity of access to maternal healthcare in industrialised countries.

We also have a programme that’s been running for 20 years and is focused on a bacterium that causes river blindness in many countries, especially in Africa and Latin America. Since 1987, this donation programme has seen more than 2 billion tablets distributed through a public-private partnership involving the World Health Organisation, the World Bank and other stakeholders.

Then we have our local programmes, one of the most important of which is the Well Done MSD - Health Literacy Awards. This prize, which is supported by the national insurance agency and a range of other healthcare organisations, recognises activities that help patients better understand their diseases, conditions and treatment and thus improve healthcare in Belgium. The award is given at three levels – to healthcare professionals, in speciality care and at community level. We had 53 applications for the awards last year, and it’s increasing year after year.

what are the key areas for innovation in your industry?

This is a rapidly evolving field; things are moving very fast because of new technologies that make research a lot better and a lot faster. There are new fields like nanotechnology, for instance, and DNA and gene therapy, which are transforming research. MSD has already expanded into the field of immuno-oncology; we’re going to expand in hepatitis and we also have a very important programme in Alzheimer’s. This is the next frontier for us. We’re still learning about it and how we’re going to eventually treat this debilitating disease that affects so many people.

what future trends can we expect?

First of all, there is the research field that is evolving very rapidly, but there


is also the broader environment that is changing. Populations are growing, people are aging. Aging means more care, and more care means more needs and more healthcare-related expenses. With the economic situation we are facing in Europe, it’s becoming more and more difficult to take decisions about reimbursement. The requirements for products to become eligible for reimbursement have significantly increased, with more clinical trials needed and higher levels of safety and efficacy, which is of course a good thing. In countries like the UK, Canada, Germany, France and Belgium, there is a trend towards more health technology assessments being required before decisions are made about reimbursement. We need to prove to the payers that our new medicine, from an economic standpoint, is worth reimbursing: that it’s going to make a difference for patients and decrease costs by keeping

people out of hospital, by reducing mortality and by reducing the need for care at the patient level.

how have your research budgets changed?

They have increased tremendously. At one point, developing a molecule used to cost about $1 billion. Now, it’s between $2 billion and $2.5 billion. In part this is because we’re exploring fields that are more and more complicated. We have a very good range of solutions for diseases like hypertension and cholesterol, but we are now moving to the next frontier, the most complex diseases such as cancers, Alzheimer’s, central nervous system diseases, hepatitis, HIV. So this costs a lot more because the fields are more complex. We are going into more and more personalised medicine, which means a solution will only be applied to a specific population group, or even to an individual patient.

“CSR is a really important part of our corporate culture; it’s a form of giving back”


Interview •

“We’ve introduced a number of breakthrough therapies over the years, such as penicillin and cortisol”

Is the duration of patent protection for pharmaceuticals long enough?

Patents generally last 20 years, but the time between submission of a patent and the moment the product is on the market is around 10 years. Sometimes, when a drug enters the market, there are only five to eight years left before the patent expires. Of course, given that situation, we would like to have longer patents, but it’s important to think about the benefits for the authorities and society of the current system: once a drug loses its exclusivity, the generics can get on board and then prices go down tremendously. We support this because the amounts saved can be reinvested into innovation; that’s the circle of innovation. It’s crucial that incentives for innovation are in place; this is what the two pharma associations Pharma.be and FeBelGen and the federal health minister agreed last July in the Pact for the Future. This pact sets a frame within which we can work and continue investing in R&D in Belgium.

why is the pharma industry so important in Belgium?

I think it’s first of all a matter of history. You have very large pharmaceutical companies like Janssens, UCB and others that have been here for a long time. Then you have companies who came here because Belgium is the hub of Europe; they conduct their research and development or their production here. All that is supported by a strong academic network with seven key centres. Finally, fantastic biotech hubs have developed in both the north and south of the country. MSD works with Belgian biotech companies like Ablynx and Complix in cancer immunotherapy,

and with Euroscreen and Delphi Genetics to tackle other diseases where very few or no treatments have been found yet.

You’ve lived in Belgium a little over three years. how do you like it here?

I come from France and studied in Lille, so coming here is like rediscovering my roots to an extent. I very much like the mentality here. It reminds me of Canada because of the duality of languages and cultures. It’s a very rich country from a historical and cultural standpoint. In Brussels you have a bit of a melting pot because of the many people who come here to work for the European institutions. It’s a country that’s easy to live in as an expat, as far as I’m concerned.

what key advice would you give to newcomers?

I would advise them to take a course on the local culture; I think it’s really important to understand it. If you’re already informed about the differences between the north and south, the languages, the communities, the regions and so on, this can make a huge difference in terms of your understanding of the situation and ability to rapidly integrate.

what do you do in your free time?

First, I have my family come here, or I visit my family in Canada, because my husband and children are still there. I love travelling around, and from Brussels that’s very easy. I either travel around in Belgium or elsewhere. I have my parents in the south of France, who I also visit, so I’m on the road quite a lot. And I love cooking as well as walking and hiking.

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village peopleING’s FinTech Village is up and running, providing an innovative environment for start-ups from around the world

By Philippe Bergez of ING Belgium, head of ING FinTech Village

Finance •

Several years ago ING Belgium realised that, if it did not innovate for itself, it would be overtaken by others. So the bank

decided to shake things up to deliver a better service to customers. One result was the ING FinTech Village.

FinTech stands for financial technology, but it can go beyond banking, and ING’s FinTech Village aims to provide

a supportive, innovative environment for start-ups in this field. The first phase of a start-up is incubation, the development of an idea into a minimum viable product or service. In the second phase, the aim is to arrive at a proof of concept for a sponsor company. In the FinTech Village, the product is developed in very short cycles and shown to the customer for immediate feedback to further develop the product.


David Newman, co-founder of Delio Wealth, explains his start-up’s involvement in ING’s FinTech Village

how did you come up with your Fintech project?

I worked in wealth management in the UK, advising high and ultra-high net worth individuals and family offices. My co-founder worked in corporate finance, selling businesses for successful entrepreneurs. We realised today’s wealth creators want more than what wealth management firms offer: they want more access to private market investment opportunities – unlisted businesses, direct debt and real estate – and existing firms weren’t doing enough to offer these to their clients.

how did you feel about coming to Belgium?

I was excited to have the opportunity to work with ING but didn’t really know what else to expect. I was a little concerned about not speaking French or Dutch but assumed that I would be able to get by given Brussels’ role as a very international city. And so far I’m enjoying life here. Brussels has a very pretty old town and plenty of nice parks to stroll around. The people are all great and have a relaxed, cosmopolitan and international outlook on life. ING have been great to work with and have made coming to the city worthwhile.

how could Belgium be more welcoming for start-ups?

Given the level of internationalism in Brussels, it should be punching above its weight in attracting overseas talent. If Belgium wants to compete with the likes of Amsterdam, Berlin and London as an international centre for innovation, then it needs to attract more overseas start-ups and do everything it can to ensure Belgian companies don’t move to the bigger hubs. FinTech village has been great at this, with four of the seven companies coming from outside Belgium. However, to get these companies to stay, there needs to be more done in terms of working with existing international business in Brussels, and time spent building the wider infrastructure. Attracting the venture capital community, building links between start-ups and mentors, engaging professional services firms and the support of the regulator and co-ordinating angel investors all help to build an attractive ecosystem for start-ups.

where would you like your project to be in five years?

We want to see all major financial institutions across Europe using Delio to give their wealth management clients what they want; a digital proposition to access interesting and unique private market investment opportunities.

view from the villageThe ING FinTech Village was created by ING Belgium with two partners: Deloitte and Innotribe. Over four months, sponsors and mentors will help the start-ups with advice and concrete help. The aim is twofold: to mature the start-up as a company and to deliver a proof of concept for the bank. The project started in March, and by the end of June the seven participants are expected to show their progress during a demo day. The sponsors – who are all looking for technology that solves customers’ issues – will then decide whether to start a commercial relationship.

For more information about ING’s FinTech Village, contact [email protected]

Who’S Who?

The start-ups involved in the current session of the ING FinTech Village are:Addocted/POM A customer-friendly app for individuals in e-invoicing and paymentsAnglr Helps companies increase the productivity of their knowledge workers through automated text processing, search and analysisContractfit Provides better ways of managing contractsDelio New investment opportunities in line with the mentality of active investorsHopOn A mobile ticketing platform for mass-transportation networksIsItYou A user-friendly and secure authentication tool for banking servicesPayKey Integrates payments into social media


Travel buddiesWhile holiday-makers scour the internet for bargain deals, others are finding that using traditional agents can reap rewards. And agents are upping their game in response

✶ By Bartosz Brzezinski

Business •


In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Brussels, thousands of flights were cancelled or redirected to other airports. For weeks, travellers remained uncer-

tain of their plans, with many trips called off at the last minute.

In retrospect, Konstantina Karadimitro-poulu is glad she opted to use a travel agency to plan her honeymoon. In early March, she and her husband visited Service Voyage Schuman and decided to head for Mauritius in the Indian Ocean by the end of the month.

“When the attacks happened, we didn’t know if we were going to be able to fly,” the Greek expat says. “But the agent quickly found us a different flight and we were able to leave on the same day. We didn’t have to do a thing. I have a colleague who had organised a trip on her own and travelled a few weeks after me, and it took her forever to rearrange her itinerary. She still needs to get her money back.”

Describing herself as a do-it-yourself kind of person, Karadimitropoulu says she had never gone to a travel agency before. “Planning our wedding was an exhausting experience, so we decided to leave our honeymoon to a third party,” she says. “I didn’t know if I would like it, but it proved to be a fantastic experi-ence. The agent was so helpful and enthusiastic, and we got a lot of special deals for newlyweds.”

For all her positive experience, however, Karadimitropoulu’s decision to buy a trip through an agent’s office is part of

a disappearing trend. Travel agencies, once essential for booking holidays, have seen their share of the market diminish in recent years, as more and more people book trips independently online.

Internet sales now account for almost 40% of all trips and Belgians are three times more likely to compare offers on-line than in the past. As more travellers look to book their trips on the internet, many brick-and-mortar shops will be forced out of business in the coming years.

Realising that the vast majority of their customer base are already shopping online, many intermediaries in Belgium are opting for a hybrid model, combin-ing online sales with a network of travel agents. One of the first, Connections, launched its online platform in 2000 but continues to operate 31 travel shops across the country.

“On the internet, the only criterion is price,” says spokesperson Frank Bosteels. “There are a lot of things that don’t necessarily appear, like cheaper connec-tions or special hotel deals. The internet is doing a great job, but it won’t tell you everything. A qualified agent has access to hundreds of thousands of hotels and knows the ins and outs of the business, so the chances are they can get you a much better deal.”

To get away from the tense situation in Belgium this spring, UK expat Mark Cunningham was planning to take his family somewhere warm for a week-long holiday in April. The family set their sights on the Canary Islands, a popular

“Planning our wedding was exhausting, so we decided to leave our honeymoon to a third party”


Business •

destination for Belgians, but when Cun-ningham visited the local office of travel agency Neckermann, the agent advised him to go to Cyprus instead.

“Because of its proximity to Syria, many Belgians are avoiding Cyprus, even though it’s perfectly safe. The agent said we would get a much better deal going there,” he says. “We were able to save quite a bit of money and stay in one of the best hotels on the island.”

At Neckermann, Cunningham opted for a luxury service known as Pegase, which comes with such perks as a private car to the airport, faster lanes through check-in and security, and access to a business lounge at Zaventem airport.

“We have three small kids, so it means we’re not waiting around for a very long time,” he says. “And when our outbound flight was transferred to Liège, Neckermann still arranged a taxi for us at no extra charge, even though it’s about an hour away. We also got a voucher to use against our next trip because we didn’t go through the lounges in Zaventem. I didn’t ask for it, they just sent it to us.”

When deciding on package holidays, Cunningham always goes through travel agencies because of the perks and the information he wouldn’t think of on his own, like the deals in Cyprus. But if he’s going somewhere close and familiar, like France, he books on his own. This is increasingly true for most travellers. Bos-teels, like many in the industry, admits that travel agencies are no longer the first choice when it comes to booking

trips to neighbouring countries. “We’re becoming less relevant for trips within Europe, because they are just so conveni-ent,” he says. “People are familiar with their destinations and they feel they don’t need expert advice. And in some ways, they are right.”

Innovation is key to the survival of travel agencies. According to industry experts, in addition to creating new and more exotic destinations, intermediaries are focusing on getting closer to travellers, by not only enabling them to book their trips through apps or online but also informing them of itinerary changes and keeping in touch throughout the trip.

For weekend excursions to France, Italy and the UK, Natalie Arsenow arranges everything online. But three years ago, the German expat who lives in Brussels booked a 10-month trip around the world with STA Travel that took her to 15 countries in Asia and North America.

“When I realised how complicated it would be, I decided not to do it all on

my own,” she says. “If anything went wrong, I thought, I would at least have a point of contact, someone to turn to.”

As an art teacher on a limited budget, she spent hours on the internet fishing for the best deal, before settling on STA Travel, because the trip would have cost her more if she’d broken it up into seg-ments and booked on her own.

“Out of the dozen or so flights, only one would have been cheaper. The agent found tickets that included two, three, or even four cities,” she says. “I did a trip from Thailand, through Malaysia, down to Singapore, which cost just a little bit more than a direct flight from Bangkok to Singapore. I wouldn’t have thought of that, simply because it wasn’t on my radar.”

Because of the convenience and the fact she was able to save money, Arsenow says that if she ever embarked on a simi-lar trip, she wouldn’t hesitate to book with the agency again. But the biggest selling point, she adds, was the care and advice offered by the agency, which pro-vided her with detailed information on vaccinations, currency, weather and even the political situation in each country, but also kept checking up on her throughout the trip.

“Whenever I sent them an email, the agents responded within two hours. I knew that if anything were to go wrong, they would tell me what to do, where to go and who to call. It’s almost like having a personal assistant that helps you get everything right. You’re certain that you won’t miss anything.”

“When I realised how complicated it would be, I decided not to do it all on my own”


“If we don’t innovate, we won’t be here five years from now”

STA Travel operates a global website that generates most of its sales, but Arsenow booked with an agent in her native Germany. To attract potential travellers and respond to the online challenge, many agencies are reimagining the look of their high street shops.

“The traditional agency with posters of exotic places and all sorts of brochures is dead,” says Bosteels. “It used to be relevant when people had to go there to obtain information, but now everything is at their fingertips. The shopping, the inspiration – it’s all on the screen.”

Some travel agencies run cafes; others, like Connections, have done away with traditional desks and computers and sit the agent and the customer together for a casual conversation in what looks like a diner straight from New York or a campsite in the savannah. “It’s all

about making that personal connec-tion. There’s no computer separating the travel agent from you, so you’re sitting together, discussing the project,” says Bosteels, comparing it to visiting a museum. “You can go to a museum and say you’ve been there. Or you can explore the same museum with a skilled guide who will show you around and explain what you’re seeing, build a narrative and give you a totally different experience. It’s the same with creating the perfect trip.”

But he admits that he doesn’t know what the future holds for his industry. “It’s something we ask ourselves every day. We’re anticipating, trying out new things, because if we don’t innovate, we won’t be here five years from now. People will travel more and more, but the way we provide our service will be nothing like what we do today.”

Connections sets a different tone

entrepreneur •

When I arrived in Brussels, I was struck by how difficult it is to leave your

network in your home country and build up connections in a new place – especially if you work from home. After a few years in solitude, I had the idea of creating a place that would be as convenient and nice as being at home, but with the bonus of other people, events and the whole office infrastructure. The Library was basically everything I was missing myself.

It was easy to get the business off the ground; a good accountant is pretty much all you need. To date, I still haven’t met any serious red tape. On the other hand, I find it very, very expensive to take on employees. I’m pleased they changed the law this year, so new companies can hire the first employee with no social charges. It’s the only way forward for creating more jobs. I would have started my company even sooner if I’d known how easy it would be. I would also have got help earlier if I’d been aware of the incentives for hiring employees via Actiris, for example. But otherwise, no regrets. My early mistakes were also chances to learn.

Brussels is a perfect place for new ideas. So many cultures come together and it fosters a lot of openness and curiosity. I have only seen advantages so far. I’ve met so much goodwill and friendliness, from my bank, the press, the authorities, other entrepreneurs and my clients. There’s a general feeling that people really want you to succeed. You have a mass of well-educated, bi- and trilingual people here, who are eager to try something new. I never had any problems finding great colleagues and I am proud to have created five full-time jobs in three years. I try to en-courage entrepreneurship wherever I go and so I am very proud that two of my staff members run businesses on the side. I also promote entrepreneurship via groups such as Leadarise, which builds leadership skills and confidence in young women, as well as various business networks.

There have been times where it’s been tough to manage family life and the growth spurts of the business at the same time, and I’ve had many sleepless nights. But that’s part of building some-thing new and it’s all worth it, when I wake in the mornings and realise I can go where I want and am the master of my own time – more or less. In this economy, we can’t count on having jobs created for us. We need entrepreneurs to make the wheels go round. Talk to your bank, get a good accountant, imagine yourself working in a nice place and go build something new. You won’t regret it.

thelibrarygroup.be

start me upDanish expat Anne-Sofie van den Born Rehfeld introduces The Library Group, which operates three boutique business centres and co-working spaces in Brussels

There’s a general feeling that people want you to succeed



travel •

escape to…

the sOunD OF sILenCeWould you dare to unplug yourself from the modern world and undergo a social media detox? As the line between work and personal life becomes increasingly blurred, consider spending a day, weekend or longer off the grid and possibly without wifi, TV or phone reception. From remote camping to relaxation centres, here are some suggestions for places to unwind and enjoy the great outdoors in and around Belgium.

MeDItAte

Belgium may not be short on monasteries, but the Yeunten Ling Institute is devoted to the traditions of Buddhism. Its centre near Huy in the Condroz region of Wallonia is perfect for contemplative retreats and meditation workshops. It also offers a host of activities, from yoga courses to Tibetan language classes. Built on the domain of the Château du Fond l’Eveque, East really meets West here, as the remains of the 18th-century castle stand along-side pagoda-style temples filled with the wild, colourful trappings of the Tibetan traditions of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama has visited three times and the monastery serves as a meeting space for anyone interested in learning about and practising Bud-dhism. While a mobile signal is not unattainable, learn-ing to calm the inner mind and appreciate the beauti-ful green setting will surely provide some relief from daily life.institut-tibetain.org

gO Zen

The Oost-West Centrum (East-West Centre) is a non-profit organisation that offers courses for people interested in exploring spirituality and sustainable living. Merging Eastern spir-itual practices with Western ecological frameworks, there are more than 400 courses offered in both English and Dutch, with many teachers coming from the UK and US. As well as yoga and tai chi, you’ll also find courses in massage, ayurvedic cook-ing and medicine, personal development, dance and even shamanic traditions. Non-residential courses take place in Antwerp, while longer-term courses and retreats are at in Wallonia (see right). The centre holds open days in September and January (in Dutch).owc.be

BACk tO nAture

For a rural getaway, head to Bois-le-Comte, an ecologi-cal guesthouse and course centre. Run by the peo-ple behind the East-West Centre, this old farmhouse lies deep in the woods of La Gaume, the farthest corner of Wallonia. There is no wifi and mobile service is patchy. Nourishing organic food is prepared by reputable chefs brought in from around the world. There are three ways to stay here: sign up for one of the workshops, which in-clude room and board; come as a guest with half-board accommodation (meals are vegetarian and vegan, 100% organic, supplied largely from their garden); or, if you have more time and a strong desire to sink your hands into the earth, you can vol-unteer on the farm. boislecomte.be

CAMP & trek

Wild camping may be out-lawed in Belgium, but since last summer five improvised camping spaces have opened along two walking trails in the Belgian and Luxembourg Ardennes. Thanks to the European project Escar-pardenne, you can trek for a few days or more, legally pitching a tent and lighting a fire on route. The forest- and valley-filled territory is in the nature park of the two Ourthes in the commune of Houffalize, part of the Rhine basin and containing some of the oldest rocks in Belgium. There are two options: the Eisleck Trail (around 100km) and the Lee Trail (around 50km). At each site, you can find an open fire or barbecue pit, wood store, benches, tables and picnic shelter. pndo.be


Business • Lifestyle •

The fans are already imagining the scene on the evening of Sunday, 10 July. A televi-sion audience of 300 million watches as the exhausted but

exhilarated Belgian captain Eden Hazard is ushered to the front of his squad on the podium after the Euro 2016 final. As the skipper gets his hands on the Henri Delaunay trophy, he holds it aloft, send-ing the 81,000 crowd at the Stade de France in Paris into rapture.

That, at least, is the dream scenario. And it might actually happen. Belgium

is currently enjoying its best-ever period in football: in April the Red Devils relin-quished top spot in the Fifa rankings to Argentina after four months as world number one. World Cup winners Ger-many, the next highest European side, are only fifth.

But there are many ways in which it can go awry, and in football, that happens all too often. Underdogs like Greece in Euro 2004 and Leicester City in this year’s English Premier League can produce surprises. Despite their lofty Fifa position, Belgium are ranked by bookmakers as only fifth favourites

Devils on tourTop footballers are now household names, and Belgium’s marketing departments are counting on that brand recognition as the Red Devils head to Euro 2016

✶ By Leo Cendrowicz



for Euro 2016, after France, Germany, Spain and England.

No-nonsense coach Marc Wilmots agrees his team are long shots. “Just because other people are crazy, it doesn’t mean I am as well,” he says. “There are teams like Spain, Germany and France that have a lot of quality. We are among the outsiders like Italy and Portugal.” That hasn’t stopped fans, players, broadcast-ers and advertisers from riding the wave of enthusiasm sweeping the country. The Red Devil trident can be seen everywhere on posters, flags, bags and T-shirts, with a dazzling array of red, yellow and black merchandise. Kids vie to swap stick-ers and fake tattoos. Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois stare out from bus stop adverts in often absurd tie-ins.

Some of the sponsorship deals enhance both parties with imaginative arrange-ments. For example, this year Hazard filmed a clever spot with Belgium’s Lotus Bakeries, who make speculoos biscuits, in which he kicks a ball at a wall of

10,000 coffee cups, knocking a single cookie into a saucer without breaking any of the crockery.

De Bruyne, who became the most expensive Belgian player ever when he signed for Manchester City last year (for a fee of €67 million, with a weekly salary of €200,000) demonstrated his goodwill when he allowed a doctored picture of himself to be used for the Special Olympics in 2014: the image changed his face to appear as if he had Down’s syndrome, and asked “Would you still be a fan if I looked like this?” But some commercial ventures fail. In February last year, Vincent Kompany closed his Good Kompany bars in Antwerp and Brussels after less than a year, pointing out that “there were not enough customers. The sales were good but not enough to cover the costs.”

Needless to say, an international profile does wonders for the personal brand: regular appearances in the Champions League make many of the squad familiar figures. But the World Cup and the

The team is dwarfed by the fans of individual players: Hazard has 4.4 million Twitter followers

Belgium’s fans show their colours

Lifestyle •


European Championships provide the biggest impact. The branding is, natu-rally, enhanced by social media, and the Belgian football association has launched a Belgian Red Devils app offering stories on Snapchat, content and videos, an infographic fan guide for travelling fans

and a ‘devil of the match’ vote. The of-ficial Red Devils Facebook page has 1.2 million likes and the Red Devils as a team have 440,000 Twitter followers. But they are dwarfed by the fans of the individual players: Hazard has 4.4 million Twitter followers, Kompany 2.5 million.

Marouane Fellaini, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden

Hazard and Laurent Ciman celebrate a goal

against Norway


For Wilmots, these commercial ventures are irritating if essential necessities. A former player who captained the national team in the 2002 World Cup, Wilmots was known for his energy and dogged self-belief. As a fan favourite, he knows how important it is to ensure passionate support from the crowd in the stadium and the audience at home. Indeed, when Belgium played at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, their first major tournament for 12 years, it was in part down to the drive Wilmots in-stilled in the squad. That translated into raucous celebrations back in Belgium, and even long-time players professed themselves surprised at how much the country got behind the team.

Wilmots admits that his coaching and the fans are only part of the explanation for why Belgium is doing so well. When he became coach, he inherited a gifted

group of players who found themselves in demand by Europe’s top teams. Half of them play in England, where the rugged, rushed style suits them. That includes Liverpool forwards Divock Origi and Christian Benteke, Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, Tottenham defenders Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, and Manchester United forward Marouane Fellaini. They’re also found at Zenit Saint Petersburg (Axel Witsel), Barcelona (Thomas Vermaelen), Atletico Madrid (Yannick Carrasco), Napoli (Dries Mertens) and Galatasaray (Jason Denayer). The few still in Belgian sides, like Jordan Lukaku at Oostende, tend to be young, yet to be discovered by big European clubs.

The front man for the squad is Hazard, who was named captain in May after long-serving skipper Kompany was ruled out of the tournament through

injury. Even in a team brimming with talent, Hazard stands out: the 25-year-old Chelsea star, who was England’s player of the year in 2015, has earned comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for his mercurial brilliance. He is also charismatic, as his appear-ances in adverts for Nike and the FIFA 15 video game show.

Wilmots says the Belgian team has ma-tured since being knocked out by Argen-tina in the World Cup quarter-finals two years ago, as shown by the subsequent high-profile transfers of players such as Benteke and De Bruyne. “It made them more confident in their abilities. We are all more relaxed,” said Wilmots. He is careful to manage expectations, but even he is looking to 10 July. “If we can avoid injuries we can reach the semi-fi-nals, and once you are there who knows what can happen,” he says.

“If we can avoid injuries we can reach the semi-finals, and once you are there who knows what can happen”

Marc Wilmots faces the press

technology •

AudioCube

Listening to music while throwing meat on a barbecue or lying on the beach is an experience many vacationers will want to enhance with an extra Bluetooth speaker. Most well-known manufacturers have a product like this in their portfolio. But when you walk down the Bluetooth speaker aisle in your local electronics store, the AudioCube might stand out from the rest. With its omni-directional speakers, you can get a decent sound for your entire company with minimum disturbance for your neighbours: you can keep the decibels low. And when you put the largest of its rubber buttons on the tabletop, it doubles as an extra bass booster for when the party gets wilder. €80allocacoc.com

Digital world kindle Oasis

Everyone knows the Kindle story by now. After other manufacturers had spent more than a decade trying to lure readers into switching a stack of books in their suitcase to a single electronic reader, Amazon finally succeeded in providing the sort of device that people will actually read on. With the Kindle Oasis, it’s perfected its own formula. It’s a more expensive device than hit product Kindle PaperWhite, but the extra money has gone into an enhanced 300ppi resolution screen with e-ink technology that delivers 16 levels of grayscale. Much easier on the eyes than the backlight of that tablet you thought you’d use for reading. And with 1GB of internal memory, double that of the PaperWhite, you can store entire digital bookshelves on the thing. €250amazon.co.uk

samsung galaxy tabPro s

With its TabPro S, Samsung is charging into the crowded premium tablet market. You know: the ones you can watch Netflix on but that also double as a full-blown personal computer. It’s a tough market, where the ancient rules of the PC industry apply again (Windows 10 dominates as an operating system), and where Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 and Apple’s iPad Pro have already won over hearts. But while the TabPro S may be late to the party, it’s also brought the best booze. It has a spectacular 12in screen, with Amoled screen

technology and a 2160x1440 resolution. At 693g, it’s still not as light as you’d want it to be for a tablet, but it beats

the bulkier Surface Pro 3 and iPad Pro. And right out of the box it has its own keyboard cover, which

Microsoft is only too happy to sell you as an accessory and Apple leaves to third-party manufacturers like Logitech. €1,100

samsung.be


what’shappening

esPerAnZAh In the land of a thousand music festivals, Esperanzah stands out for its programme and setting. This world-music weekender takes place in the grounds of Floreffe Abbey overlooking the Sambre river. Campers have their choice of atmosphere. The main campsite promises non-stop partying while a new, more distant site offers peace and quiet for families. This year’s headliners include American punk poet Patti Smith and French electronic artist St Germain as well as gonzo Serbian gypsy-rock outfit Emir Kusturica & the No Smoking Orchestra.5-7 August Floreffe Abbey esperanzah.be


Agenda •


MIMA

Brussels’ newest museum, the Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art (Mima), occupies three floors of post-industrial space in the fast-gentrifying canal district. As the name suggests, the institution is dedicated to showcasing new art that pushes the aesthetic and political envelope, especially those forms enabled by contemporary urban culture and social media. Its inaugural exhibition, City Lights, features four fresh American artists: mural painter Maya Hayuk, graffiti artist Momo, installation artist Swoon and culture-jamming duo Faile. The unifying theme is contemporary cosmopolitanism and its socially progressive potential.Until 28 August Mima, Brussels mimamuseum.eu

JOAn BAeZ

Legendary American folk singer Joan Baez makes a rare live appearance in Belgium this summer. Baez is known as much for her political activism as her musical talent. Indeed, the two are intertwined; throughout the tumultuous 1960s she sang protest songs like The Ballad of Sacco & Vanzetti and The Partisan. Against the spectacular backdrop of the historic Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose, Baez will revisit old hits and share some new ones.5 August, 20.00 Centre Culturel René Magritte, Lessines ccrenemagritte.be

suMMer OF PhOtOgrAPhY

The sixth edition of Brussels’ biennial Summer of Photography celebrates contemporary photography in all its guises. An initiative of the capital’s fine arts centre Bozar, the event has grown into a city-wide selection of exhibitions, readings, workshops and portfolio presentations. One of this edition’s highlights is the Alex Webb retrospective exhibition The Suffering of the Light, at Botanique from 22 June to 7 August. The veteran American photographer has spent nearly a half-century exploring light and colour around the world. Pictured here is work by Ikere Jones from the series Dey Your Lane.Until 4 SeptemberAcross Brussels summerofphotography.be

gentse Feesten

The Gentse Feesten, now in its 173rd edition, is the most anticipated event in Ghent – possibly even in all of Flanders. For a fortnight the streets of the city centre come alive with music, theatre, food, drink and nonstop revelry. Several open-air stages accommodate national and international music stars while every corner serves as a stage for local performers. This is a big deal. Every year the Gentse Feesten welcomes over 1 million visitors. Entry is mostly free.15-24 JulyAcross Ghent gentsefeesten.stad.gent

EVENTS WITh ING

•Les Ardentes Music festival, 6-10 July, Liège, lesardentes.be

•Cactus Festival Music festival, 8-10 July, Bruges, cactusfestival.be

•Dour Festival Music festival, 13-17 July, Dour, dourfestival.eu

•Les Francofolies de Spa Music festival, 20-23 July, Spa, francofolies.be

•Suikerrock Music festival, 29-31 July, Tienen, suikerrock.be

•Lokerse Feesten Music festival, 5-14 August, Lokeren, lokersefeesten.be

FestIvAL OF wALLOnIA

The months-long Festival of Wallonia is a smorgasbord of classical music. Fans of big string sections, brass bands and chamber ensembles will enjoy a full 150 concerts held in all manner of venues across the French-speaking parts of Belgium. This 46th edition is a musical encounter between West and East, with European luminaries performing alongside virtuoso players from Asia and elsewhere. The festival’s guest of honour is Goncourt-prize winning French novelist Mathias Énard, who is no stranger to intercultural exploration.Until 16 OctoberAcross Wallonia & Brussels festivaldewallonie.be

ZOMer vAn AntwerPen

Zomer van Antwerpen is Antwerp’s answer to the Gentse Feesten. Instead of trying to compete with Ghent’s massive street party, however, the city on the Scheldt’s annual festival is more a programme of separate events spread throughout the city during the summer months. Many of these, including open-air concerts and film screenings, are free; the headline theatre performances require tickets. ZVA’s meeting point is a centrally located sandy beach bar and circus tent – the perfect place to while away a sunny afternoon.15 June-31 August Across Antwerp zva.be


PukkeLPOP

Pukkelpop was launched as a humble, single-day shindig in the far reaches of Limburg in 1985. It has since grown into one of Belgium’s biggest summer music festivals, a powerhouse weekender drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world. This year’s line-up reflects its exalted status. Platinum-selling American soul singer Rihanna, British acid-house pioneers The Chemical Brothers and Irish pop-rock singer Róisín Murphy are among the dozens of international headliners performing on Pukkelpop’s several open-air stages. 17-20 August Kiewit, Hasseltpukkelpop.be

Les BALADes De LA seMOIs

Summer is the season to get outdoors. Les Balades de la Semois offers several Segway treks through the Semois Valley in deepest Wallonia, where visitors will find some of Belgium’s most marvellous landscapes. Of the nine tours on offer, the Rochehaut ride may well be the most scenic. Trekkers are led along the banks of the languid, winding Semois river to the village of Frahan (population: 74). From there they segue up a hill to Rochehaut itself for a peerless panoramic view of the entire valley. The 15km journey takes about two-and-a-half hours.Luxembourg provincelesbaladesdelasemois.be

CommuNITy EVENTS

•Brussels Choral Society: Northern Lights 18 June, Eglise du Chant d’Oiseau, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, brusselschoralsociety.com

•Full Circle: Steve Keen: Money for Nothing 20 June, Brussels, fullcircle.eu

•Brussels Bookswappers Club 22 June, Le Chapelier Fou, Watermael-Boitsfort, thebrusselsbookswapper-sclub.wordpress.com

•Serve the City Big Volunteer Week 25 June-2 July, Brussels, servethecity.be

•@seven Football Village Throughout Euro 2016, Parc Cinquantenaire, atseven.eu

•Brussels Chamber Choir: Cloudburst 23 June, Eglise Saint-Boniface, Ixelles, brusselschamberchoir.be

•MBA 2U Brussels Conference 17 September, Marriott Brussels, thembatour.com

Agenda •


FLOwer CArPet

The Flower Carpet has been showcasing Belgian horticulture and design since 1971. The major biennial event sees hundreds of thousands of Flemish begonias woven together to form a massive work of art occupying the entire Grand Place. This 20th edition is something special. Not only does it mark 150 years of friendship between Belgium and Japan but its creators – veteran Belgian floral designer Mark Schautteet and up-and-coming Japanese graphic designer Fujie Suzuki – are incorporating figurative patterns for the first time, in the form of cranes and koi.12-15 AugustGrand Place, Brusselsflowercarpet.brussels

en PLeIn AIr

The inaugural exhibition of Liège’s renovated fine arts museum La Boverie is inspired by its parkland setting overlooking the Meuse river. In more than 100 paintings from the end of the 17th century to the 20th century, it depicts colourful scenes of people enjoying free time alfresco. Among them, paintings by masters such as Monet, Cézanne, Léger and Picasso, and numerous works by lesser-known artists. The museum is in a partnership with the Louvre, so French artists dominate the exhibition. Situated on the Parc de la Boverie island, the Neoclassic building has a gleaming glass and wood contemporary wing. It opened at the start of May along with the new walkway over the Meuse, which links the park, Calatrava railway station and Mediacité shopping and media complex.Until 15 August La Boverie, Liègelaboverie.com

gAMe ChAngers

This summer, Antwerp’s MoMu fashion museum pays tribute to seminal Spanish fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga. The exhibition Game Changers: Reinventing the 20th-Century Silhouette focuses on two crucial decades – the 1920s and 30s – during which Balenciaga led a fashion revolution. He and his international confederates rebelled against the classic but constrictive hourglass figure and pioneered a liberated ideal of free-flowing, abstract beauty. These designers borrowed from global influences (notably the Japanese kimono) as well as modernist art to help create many of the forms that are still used today.Until 14 August MoMu, Antwerp momu.be

FOODPistolet Original

They’re sandwiches, but not as we know them: Pistolet Original offers gourmet bread rolls packed with choice fillings prepared by top Belgian chefs. The latest comes from two-star chef Christophe Hardiquest of Bon Bon: goat’s cheese, hummous and marinated fennel. Outlets at Schuman and Sablon.pistolet-original.be

DrInkBishop’s gin

Bishop’s Gin symbolises the life of John Ponet, ordained bishop of Winchester in 1551, a bon vivant who stood for anti-conformism and adventure. His coat of arms adorns this new gin, conceived by Belgian entrepreneur Thierry Ponet and Matthieu Chaumont of Hortense cocktail bar in Brussels, and distilled with nasturtium in London. bishopsgin.com

what’s new


Travel in comfort with this quirky cactus pillow by US designers Kikkerland (€18.95). It’s part of the colourful summer range at

homeware and gift shop Hopono, with branches in Rue des Chartreux and Rue du Bailli in Brussels.hopono.be

ACCessOrYCactus cushion

The only rule in Belgium, a Belgian friend once told me, is that there are no rules. Everyone here just does whatever they want, she insisted. Sure enough, you sometimes see people behaving in

ways that wouldn’t be allowed in any other country, like parking on the pavement, or building an entire house in the back garden without planning permission.

But once you’ve lived here for any stretch of time, it’s clear that this is no anarchist paradise. The country has thousands of laws gathered in a huge legal tome, the Moniteur Belge, that currently runs to more than 100,000 pages. And some of these laws are really quite odd.

When I moved to Belgium, it was still illegal for foreigners to keep pigeons or print a poster on white paper. The first law was designed to stop foreign spies sending messages by carrier pigeon, while the second rule made sure that a flyer announcing a bake sale at the English Church wasn’t mistaken for an official municipal poster.

These two laws were removed from the statute book a few years ago in an attempt to slim down the Kafkaesque bureaucracy. But there are still some bizarre regulations on the books, like the rule that prohibits a Brussels taxi driver from picking up passengers at Zaventem airport, or the quaint law that prevents a bailiff from seizing your last cow, pig or 12 chickens (but not your new laptop or bicycle).

What’s more, some local authorities have recently added annoying new regulations to deal with minor misdemeanours. In Leuven, for example, buskers have occasionally been fined for playing a musical instrument out of tune. And residents of Ypres face a fine if they fail to report a damaged street sign.

The village of Lede is even more ruthless. It bans children from playing outside designated play areas, unless they have written permission from the mayor, along with a responsible

person in charge and a comprehensive insurance policy. In Dendermonde, it’s an offence to knock on windows “except in an emergency”, while you can be fined in Hasselt for sitting on the back rest of a bench. No one may climb a tree in Sint-Niklaas, and in Lokeren it’s strictly illegal to frighten someone.

You had better be on your best behaviour in Brussels, because a woman was arrested by four police officers in bullet-proof vests after she dropped a cherry stone on the ground. And, in Antwerp, six teenagers over the age of 16 were fined for sitting on a bench in a playground reserved for children under 12. When a youth centre in Antwerp protested at the city imposing absurd fines, it was given a fine.

So it really makes no sense for my Belgian friend to tell me that there are no rules in Belgium. There are hundreds of thousands of rules. You just have to ignore most of them, or you’ll never leave the house.

✶ By Derek Blyth

Another fine mess


Last word •

No one may climb a tree in Sint-Niklaas, and in Lokeren it’s strictly illegal to frighten someone

Documents

expat time - ING Belgium · 2016-06-27 · expat time • summer • 2016 • 7 Edgar is from the Netherlands; his wife is from India. They have a three-year-old son and 18-month-old