'Belgium' - tagged features

9 months after general elections Belgians finally look set for a new Prime Minister. The political stalemate - which was the longest in Belgian history - raised the prospect of a split between the French-speaking Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemings. Last week Walloon and Flemish politicians finally broke the d eadlock after agreeing on the first steps to reform the country. The deal paves the way for a new government to be formed by Easter -- with Yves Leterme, leader of the Flemish Christian Democrats, taking over from interim prime minister Guy Verhofstadt. But is the Belgian political crisis now really resolved? My colleague Vanessa Moch from Radio Netherlands put that quesion to the former Belgian Prime Minister Mark Eyskens. 

The old Flemish master Pieter Paul Rubens is getting a fresh new gloss in a major exhibition in Brussels. The 'Art of Genius' exhibition treats visitors to a discovery tour of Rubens' most creative period when he was working in his Antwerp studio in the 1620s and 30s. There's plenty to feast the eyes on, with Rubenesque beauties shimmering alongside intimate sketches of his children, many of them newly-restored. But even if you're not a big fan of Baroque art, this lavish show proves there's lot more to Rubens than meets the eye. Radio Netherlands reporter Vanessa Mock strolled along some of the paintings with exhibition curator Sabine van Sprang 

Three months after elections in Belgium, there’s still no sign that a new government is coming together. Coalition talks collapsed after French-speaking parties refused to agree to give Flanders greater autonomy. The stalemate is fuelling criticism that Wallonia - the poorer, French-speaking South - is feeding off Flanders - without putting anything back. There's growing support for right-wing Flemish parties who want create an independent Flanders. Radio Netherlands’ Vanessa Mock reports, that's worrying Walloons. 

Brussels infamous bureaucracy is under the spotlight again. Critics have long accused MEPs of having big expense accounts and travel budgets they don’t need. But now there are fresh calls for the travelling circus of the European Parliament, which moves from Brussels to Strasbourg every month, to be stopped. But people have tried and failed to get rid of the Strasbourg connection before. 

Perhaps International women's day would be better appreciated by the female MEP's and bureaucrats trying to make a name for themselves in Brussels. But how seriously are women taken in the EU capital? We put it to RN's Brussels correspondant Vanessa Mock that it was surely still a man's world.