Category: event

12th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday 18 June 2015, 2 to 6pm

Common challenges and contrasting prospects in the North and in the South

An e-book based on this event was published in October 2016:
The Future of the Belgian Press

All over the world, the printed press, not least the quality printed press, is facing an unprecedented challenge owing to the expansion of the internet as an alternative medium of communication. Part 1 will provide an overview of the current situation and trends affecting Belgium’s Dutch-language and French-language press and attempt to shed light on the striking differences this overview will reveal. Part 2 will start with a diverse panel of actors sketching how they see the future for Belgium’s press, and in particular what they believe needs doing in order to address the new threats and seize the new opportunities in the service of a high-quality press. As usual, there will be plenty of room for a lively discussion with the audience.

Programme

1.30 pm
Registration

2-3.45 pm
Part 1: “Is the situation of the press different in Dutch-speaking Belgium, in French-speaking Begium, in neighbouring countries, and why?”
Lead pieces presented by
Frédéric Antoine (UCL) and François Heinderyckx (ULB), authors the État des lieux des médias d’information en Belgique francophone
Els De Bens (UGent, author of De Pers in België, 2007) with Karin Raeymaeckers (director of the Center for Journalism Studies, UGent)

3.45-4.15 pm: Coffee break

4.15-6pm
Part 2: How can one secure an adequate production of the public good “quality press”?
Panel with the participation of
Ides Debruyne, managing director, journalismfund.eu
Béatrice Delvaux, éditorialiste en chef, Le Soir
Tom Naegels, ombudsman, De Standaard
Leo Neels, chairman of the Board of the press agency Belga (1994-2014)
Karl van den Broeck, editor in chief, Apache

6pm: Reception

11th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday 19 June 2014, 2-6pm

An e-book based on this event was published in July 2015:
(Con)federalism: Cure or Curse?

Belgium is officially a federal state. The French-speaking Community of Belgium has changed its name from “Communauté française” to “Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles”. Several Flemish proposals for a further reform of Belgium put forward a “confederal” model, most often based on the premise that the current federation does not function properly. The choice of these words and the fierce debates about their meaning call for some reflection. How useful is it to use these terms for describing and re-thinking Belgium? If a unitary state that was transformed into a federation now faces further demands for confederalism, what does it tell us about federalism as an institutional solution for divided countries? Does federalism tend to appease tensions or to intensify them? And what would confederalism do? Is (con)federalism a cure or a curse?

Programme

1.30pm: Registration

2-3.45 pm
Opening: Paul De Grauwe, London School of Economics & University of Leuven

Part 1: How useful are the classic terms of federalism and confederalism for understanding and planning the structure of the state?
Chair: Erik Schokkaert, University of Leuven
Introduction by John Loughlin, University of Cambridge
Comments by
Johanne Poirier, University of Brussels (ULB)
Jan Velaers, University of Antwerp

3.45-4.15 pm: Coffee break

4.15-6pm
Part 2: The paradox of federalism. Does federalism pacify or reinforce ethnic tensions?
Chair: Bea Cantillon, University of Antwerp
Introduction by Kris Deschouwer, University of Brussels (VUB)
Comments by
Michal Keating, University of Aberdeen
Philippe Destatte, Institut Jules Destrée

Conclusions: Philippe Van Parijs, Universities of Louvain & Oxford

6pm: Reception

10th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday 19 December 2013, 2-6pm

Two e-books based on this event were published in 2015:
Economic regulation in today’s Belgium and Corruption in today’s Belgium.

Re-Bel’s December meeting will discuss corruption and regulation. Both topics deal with the way the public and private sectors interact in our market-based economies and therefore offer an opportunity to explore potential commonalities and differences as regards both causes and consequences.

Programme

13.30 Registration

14.00 Opening words by Estelle CANTILLON (ULB)

14.05 – 15.45

1. Corruption 

Corruption represents the hidden (and illegal) part of the interactions between the public sector and the private sector. It can be defined generally as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Corruption affects the behavior of public officials and public policies, moving them away from socially desirable outcomes. According to Transparency International, Belgium ranks 16th in the world in terms of perceived corruption, ahead of the UK and France but behind neighboring Netherlands and Germany. In their 2013 Global Corruption Survey, 66% of interviewed individuals in Belgium considered corruption to be a problem and 71% felt that government was largely run by a few big entities in their own interest rather than in society’s interest.

Chair:
Erik SCHOKKAERT (KU Leuven)

Lead piece:
Corruption in Belgium: Causes, consequences and solutions
by Antonio ESTACHE, ULB

Discussants:
Chantal HEBETTE (Past President of the Belgian Chapter of Transparency International) tbc
Jeroen MAESSCHALCK (Instituut voor Criminologie, KU Leuven)
François VINCKE (Vice-President of the Anti-Corruption Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce)

15.30 – 16.00 Coffee break

16.15 – 17.55 

2. Regulatory performance: The role of politics and institutional design

Insights from the electricity, telecom and financial sectors
Regulation covers all the ways in which, in our markets-based economies, the public sector influences, constrains, dictates or coordinates private activities for the common good. This session will deal with the question of institutional design and the role of politics in determining regulatory performance in Belgium. These themes will be explored through concrete examples of regulatory failures and successes, with an eye towards generating general principles and guidelines for improving regulatory designs.

Chair:
Estelle CANTILLON (ULB)

Lead piece #1: Current challenges in the economic regulation of utilities in Belgium
by Jan BOUCKAERT (UA), Alexandre DE STREEL (UNamur) and Axel GAUTIER (ULg)

Lead piece #2: Regulation and supervision of the financial sector: The European Perspective
by Paul DE GRAUWE (LSE and KU Leuven)

Discussant:
Patrick VAN CAYSEELE (KU Leuven)

Final words:
Philippe VAN PARIJS (UCLouvain)

9th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday 20 June 2013 from 2 to 6pm

Nations share (the idea of) a common past. What about Belgium? Does the succession of state reforms go hand in hand with a divergence of the memories about Belgium’s past? Is this a part of the “Belgian problem”? Or is it a wider phenomenon: the falling apart of collective national identities in a globalizing world? Must we care about a common national memory? Who are the agents of memory in our society? How can they be influenced? 

Programme

13.30 Registration

14.00 Opening words by Philippe VAN PARIJS (UCLouvain & Oxford)

14.05 – 15.30
A birth’s eye view on diverging memories in Belgium
Chaired & introduced by Bruno DE WEVER (UGent)
Gita DENECKERE (UGent)
Chantal KESTELOOT (CEGES)

15.30 – 16.00 Coffee break

16.15 – 17.55
Diverging memories: themes
Chaired by Estelle CANTILLON (ULB)

‘Poor Flanders – Rich Wallonia’ (or vice versa)
Maarten VAN GINDERACHTER (UAntwerpen)
Axel TIXHON & Anne ROEKENS (UNamur)

WWI battlefield of memories?
Laurence VAN YPERSELE (UCLouvain)
Nico Wouters (CEGES)

17.55 Closing words by Paul DE GRAUWE (LSE & KU Leuven)

18.00 Reception

8th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday 20 December 2012, 2-6pm

An ebook based on this event was published in September 2013
Must Brussels’s communes be merged ? The experiences of Antwerp, Berlin and Vienna

The relationship between the Brussels Region and its 19 communes and its relationship with the communes that surround it in Vlaams Brabant and Brabant wallon are both important to its daily functioning and to its long-term prospects. How can these relationships be improved? The examples of Antwerp and Paris are sometimes offered as a model for the former relationship and the examples of the eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai or of the French Communautés urbaines as a model for the latter. But there are other examples further afield that may provide more relevant food for thought, in particular the Länder of Vienna and Berlin. Both are the capital cities of a member state of the EU, separate components of a federal state and completely surrounded by another component of this same federal state. Lessons might be learned from how these and other cities cope with challenges broadly analogous to those faced by Brussels, its communes and its metropolitan area.

Lead Pieces

Small is beautiful? Lessons from a decade of decentralisation in Antwerp, by Wouter Van Dooren & Dave Sinardet
How should the interdependencies between Brussels and its hinterland be organized?, by Caroline Van Wynsberghe

Programme

1.30 pm Registration

2-3.45 pm: Can the internal governance of Antwerp (and Paris) provide a model for the internal governance of Brussels? 

Introduction by Philippe Van Parijs (UCLouvain and Oxford)

1. Can the internal governance of Antwerp (and Paris) provide a model for the internal governance of Brussels?

Chaired by Bea Cantillon (UA)
Lead Piece by Dave Sinardet (VUB and UA) and Wouter Van Dooren (UA)

Comments by
Harald Bürger (Verbindungsbüro der Stadt Wien),
Maik Martin (Senat für Inneres und Sport, Berlin)
Stefan Sottiaux (Constitutional law, KU Leuven)

Discussion

4.15-6pm: How should the interdependencies between Brussels and its hinterland be organized?
Chaired by Estelle Cantillon (ULB)
Lead Piece by Caroline Van Wynsberghe (UCL)

Comments by
Harald Bürger (Verbindungsbüro der Stadt Wien)
Volker Loewe (Büro des Landes Berlin bei der EU)
Christian Behrendt (Constitutional law, Université de Liège)

Discussion

Conclusions by Paul De Grauwe (LSE and KU Leuven)

6pm: Reception

7th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday the 24th of May 2012 from 2 to 6pm

Documents 

G1000
The G1000. Facts, figures and some lessons from an experience of deliberative democracy in Belgium, by Didier Caluwaerts (VUB) & Min Reuchamps (ULg)

European Citizens’ Initiative
The promises and pitfalls of the European Citizens’ Initiative, Kristof Jacobs, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen.
Guide to the European Citizens’ Initiative, European Commission, Secretariat General, November 2011.
The European Citizens’ Initiative Pocket Guide, by Bruno Kaufmann, Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe and Green European Foundation, March 2012, 84p.

Programme 

13.30 Registration

2-3.45 pm: The G1000: potential and limits of an unprecedented experiment.
Chair: Estelle Cantillon (ULB)

Introduction
Philippe Van Parijs (UCLouvain & Oxford)

Some lessons from the G1000
David Van Reybrouck, initiator of the G1000
Min Reuchamps (ULg) & Didier Caluwaert (VUB), methodological unit of the G1000

Comments by
Jean-Pierre Rondas (former VRT journalist, columnist for De Morgen)
Henri Monceau (co-organiser, with James Fishkin, of Europe’s first deliberative polls, author of Deliberation and Learning of Democracy, forthcoming 2012)

3.45-4.15: Coffee break

4.15-6pm: The European Citizens’ Initiative: promises and perils of EU-level direct democracy
Chair: Erik Schokkaert (KU Leuven)

Some lessons from the ECI project so far
Charlotte Rive (Secretariat-General of the European Commission, ECI task force) 

Comments by
Kristof Jacobs (professor of political science, University of Nijmegen)
Christophe Leclercq (publisher of EurActiv, & founder Fondation EurActiv PoliTech, behind Initiative.eu)

Conclusions
Paul De Grauwe (LSE & KU Leuven)

6pm: Reception

6th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday the 22nd of December 2011 from 2 to 6pm

Dutch, French, English and other foreign languages in the school curriculum
School registration and admission policies

Programme 

13.30 Registration

14.00
Introduction: Philippe VAN PARIJS (UCLouvain & Oxford)

Dutch, French, English and other foreign languages in the school curriculum:
experiments and policies in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.
Lead piece: Alex HOUSEN (VUB) and Laurence METTEWIE (FUNDP)
Comments: Christiane BLONDIN (ULg) and Ludo BEHEYDT (UCL)
Chair: François MANIQUET (UCLouvain)

15.45 Coffee break

16.15
School registration and admission policies:
challenges and experiments in Belgium’s urban areas
Lead piece: Estelle CANTILLON (ULB)
Comments: Bernard DELVAUX (UCL), Dimo KAVADIAS (VUB), Jean-Pierre VERHAEGHE (UGent)
Chair: Bea CANTILLON (UA)

Conclusion: Paul DE GRAUWE (K.U.Leuven & LSE)

18.00 Reception

Background Documents & Contributions

Topic 1. Dutch, French, English and other foreign languages in the school curriculum
• Challenging Language Education in Belgium, by Alex HOUSEN and Laurence METTEWIE

Topic 2. School registration and admission policies in Belgium’s urban areas
• School choice regulation in practice: Lessons from Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent, by Estelle CANTILLON

5th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
9th June 2011, 2-6pm

Programme 

13.30 Registration

14.00 Right-wing Flanders, left-wing Wallonia? Is this so? If so, why? And is it a problem? 
Speakers: Henk DE SMAELE (UA), Jérôme JAMIN (ULg), Jaak BILLIET (K.U.Leuven)

Chair: Bruno DE WEVER (Re-Bel & UGent)
Introduction: Philippe VAN PARIJS (Re-Bel & UCLouvain)

15.45 Coffee break

16.15 Should the obligation to vote be abolished? Or should it be better enforced? 
Speakers: Pascal DELWIT (ULB), Justine LACROIX (ULB), Yves DESMET (De Morgen)

Chair: Johanne POIRIER (Re-Bel & ULB)
Conclusion: Paul DE GRAUWE (Re-Bel & K.U.Leuven)

18.00 Reception

Background Documents & Contributions

Right-wing Flanders, left-wing Wallonia?
• National identity and attitude toward foreigners in a multinational state, by Billiet, Maddens, Beerten
• The Producerist Narrative in Right-wing Flanders, by Jérôme Jamin
• How ‘real’ is Right-Wing Flanders ?, by Henk de Smaele
• (sub)nationalism and attitude towards immigrants, by Jaak Billiet

Should the obligation to vote be abolished?
• Compulsory voting in Belgium and in Europe, by Pascal Delwit
• Is Compulsory Voting Justified in a Liberal Democracy?, by Justine Lacroix
• Compulsory vote, by Yves Desmet

Re-Bel noon exchange
Wednesday, 30th March 2011, noon-2.15pm

Speakers

Etienne de Callataÿ (Bank Degroof & FUNDP) & André Decoster (K.U.Leuven)

In addition to the speakers, the meeting will be attended by several people more or less directly involved in designing and negociating the reform of the financing law. The number of participants being strictly limited, the remaining places will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

4th Public Event of the Re-Bel initiative
Thursday 16 December 2010, 2-6pm

Belgium’s health care system: Should the communities/regions take it over?
The linguistic territoriality principle: right violation or parity of esteem?

Programme 

13.30 Registration

14.00 Opening words by Eric DE KEULENEER (University Foundation & ULB)

14.05 – 15.45
Belgium’s health care system: Should the communities/regions take it over? Or the sickness funds?
Chaired by François MANIQUET (UCLouvain)
Lead piece by Erik SCHOKKAERT and Carine VAN DE VOORDE (K.U.Leuven)

Comments by
David CRAINICH (Université catholique de Lille)
Jan DE MAESENEER (UGent)
Johan KIPS (K.U.Leuven),
Vincent LORANT (UCLouvain)

15.45 – 16.15 Coffee break

16.15 – 18.00
The linguistic territoriality principle: right violation or parity of esteem ?
Chaired by Bea CANTILLON (UA)
Lead piece by Philippe VAN PARIJS (UCLouvain)

Comments by
Helder DE SCHUTTER (K.U.Leuven),
François GRIN (Université de Genève),
Henry TULKENS (UCLouvain),
Harry VAN VELTHOVEN & Els WITTE (Hogeschool Gent & VUB)

17.55 Closing words by Paul DE GRAUWE (Re-Bel initiative & K.U.Leuven)

18.00 Reception