BRUSSELS - "Whoever has a good résumé will find work anyway." This is what Belgian politician Bart De Wever said in the run-up to the elections of May 2014. But is that so? Especially for people over fifty it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a job, no matter how long their CV is.
NEUQUÉN - On the outskirts of Neuquén, at kilometre 7 of the Ruta-7, is the Zanon ceramic tile factory. This is where they do something very special. Ten years ago, Zanon's workers took over their factory. The expropriation was completed in January.
BACAU - Georgiana Halmac, the eldest daughter in her family, turns fifteen this winter. She lives with her six siblings in a social housing flat on the outskirts of Bacau, Romania. Her mother Liliana, an economic migrant in Turin, will not return until the summer.
BUCHAREST - When Romania became a member of the European Union in 2007, a transitional measure was voted in Belgium whereby Romanians needed a work permit in order to be able to work. A direct consequence of this was that many Romanians ended up in the informal circuit or were employed under the ...
GHENT - In 2014 it will be exactly fifty years ago that the first Turkish labour migrants arrived in Ghent to work in the defunct textile factories. Today, more than 20,000 inhabitants of Ghent (about one in twelve) have their roots in Turkey. How Ghent became a small 'Turkey on the Leie' in half a ...
BRUSSELS - How difficult is the balancing act between working on the Flemish labour market and believing in the Islamic god? With that question, Elisabeth Ackaert went to five Muslims living in Belgium.
Bad Doctor: question marks over EU's doctor register
BERLIN - The free movement of labour within the European Union has led to a significant and growing number of doctors working abroad. However, this also requires the free movement of information to ensure patient safety.
Annika Joeres and Boryana Katsarova/cosmos/Agentur Focus.
Roma exploitation: end of the dream
KATUNITSA - Some 10 to 12 million Roma are estimated to travel around Europe. The political dimension of this ethnical and social challenge is an ongoing discussion in the EU, but what is never told is the dark economy of Roma migration. Who benefits from the large afflux of mainly poor people into ...
STELLENBOSCH - South African winegrowers produce more than seven thousand different wines and are among the wealthy elite in the country. Millions of consumers around the world taste the high quality of South African wine, but the workers who pick and process the grapes barely enjoy the added value ...
BRASILIA - Several tens of thousands of illegal Brazilians work on Belgian construction sites. They are also known as the 'new Poles'. Journalists Nico Schoofs and Filip Michiels from the magazine Vacature expose the shady business behind the exploitation of these cheap workers.
DUBAI – Thanks to its strategic location, booming real estate market and especially high concentration of extremely wealthy individuals, Dubai emerged last year as the most important non-European destination for Belgian business travellers. Journalist Filip Michiels and photographer Isabel Pousset ...
SURAT - Once upon a time, Antwerp was the world's centre for diamond trading and cutting. As of 2005, the trade is still present, but Antwerp's renowned diamond industry is in decline. In an increasingly globalised world, diamond processing here has become too labour-intensive and expensive.
BEIJING - China has been on a spectacular economic rise for several years. It threatens to overtake Europe and the US as a global power. Is it a bubble that is about to burst, or should the West really fear the "yellow peril"? Who are China's modern-day gold-diggers, and are Chinese workers being ...
BRUSSELS – An exposé by freelance journalist Marleen Teugels in Knack sheds light on bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct within the Belgian army. Despite the General Staff's attempts to keep the confidential report on the matter under wraps, Teugels managed to obtain it after three months of ...