News and Events -----------

On the evening of Wednesday 15 November, The Arts Society Brussels will be Wilde about Oscar: Famous for being famous (& infamous). This talk with Simon Whitehouse will examine the life and times of Oscar Wilde.

The talk will cover Oscar Wilde’s journey from his Irish roots to his days as a student at Oxford and his meteoric rise to the heights of celebrity. Participants will travel with him to the United States, examine his starring role within the artistic and theatrical worlds of late 19th century London and visit his home in bohemian Chelsea and some of his favourite West End haunts. Finally, you will learn how ‘tired of being in the heights, he plunged into the depths’ and became famous for being INfamous...

Members and guests are welcome to meet up from 19h30 for complimentary drinks before the lecture starts at 20h00. The venue, as ever, will be the Woluwe Saint Lambert Maison Communale at 2 Avenue Paul Hymans, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, 1200 Brussels (Metro: Tomberg).

More information here.

The Association Femmes d’Europe is a philanthropic, apolitical, independent organisation based in Belgium and Luxembourg. Over the years, it has grown to some 800 members, all of who are volunteers and most of the members come from the countries of the EU. The Association has a UK group too.

The Association raises around Eur 350,000 every year by organising events and uses the funds to support some 80 projects in Europe and around the world. The majority of these projects helping women and children in terms of improving educational outcomes.

One highlight of the Association’s schedule is their annual Christmas Bazaar that is held in a European Commission building in Brussels. This year the event will take place on Saturday 2 December between 10h00 and 17h00 at Rue Joseph II, 79, B-1000 Bruxelles (nearest Metro: Maelbeek).

The Christmas Bazaar will present a wide assortment of gift ideas from international gastronomic specialties to scarves and hats, throws, leather goods, handmade soaps, vintage objects, jewellery, and children's gifts. Christmas decorations will also be available for purchase.

Saint Nicholas will be arriving at 11h00 and a raffle will be drawn at 15h00.

New for this year will be Henna painting, Beauty and makeup consultation, and children’s face painting.

Light bites and refreshments will also be available and payment by cash or card will be accepted.

This event is open to all. Find out more here. Enjoy!

Please join the Brussels Choral Society (BCS) at BOZAR on 2 December for a concert combining with the wonderful Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Navarro Turres. The concert will feature over 100 talented amateur musicians of 26 different nationalities.

The concert will feature performances of Johannes Brahms’ greatest choral works: Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny) and Ein Deutsches Requiem. Why a ‘Requiem for the Living’? Schicksalslied is a setting of Hölderlin's poem, wherein the tragedy of human destiny gives way to a shining resolution, and the Requiem focuses on the comfort to be conferred upon those that mourn, in a context that is more deeply connected to the spiritual rather than the religious.

The BCS strives to give a platform to young and new musical talents so the BOZAR concert will also mark the world premiere of Sounds of Baghdad, an evocation of the numerous faces of Baghdad, by the Belgian-Iraqi composer, Qoutayba Neaimi.

Get your tickets

Tickets for the Saturday 2 December performance at BOZAR at 20h00 can be purchased here and BBCA members are invited to tick the "BCS friends" option to obtain a reduced price.

There will also be a performance in Mechelen Cathedral (Sint-Romboutskathedraal) on 3 December at 16h00. Tickets for that performance can be obtained here.

On Tuesday 14 November, from noon, the Expat Welcome Desk of the Commissioner.brussels will be holding a webinar on Belgian nationality. Every year, many UK citizens become eligible for Belgian nationality. This opportunity is all the more relevant post-Brexit, as becoming Belgian not only offers a route to unconditional residence and democratic rights in Belgium, but also restores your rights as an EU citizen — including freedom of movement within the rest of the EU. But what is the process?

This webinar will address the practical details of preparing and submitting an application for Belgian nationality. The aim will be to help potential applicants to better understand the process and the documentation needed to be present a competent case to the Belgian authorities.

Topics to be addressed include:

• Which documents will I need and where can I find them?
• How and where do I submit my application for Belgian nationality?
• How long will the process take?
• What are my options if I get a negative response?

After the presentations by legal experts, there will be an open a Q&A session for participants.

The speakers at the webinar will be Amélie Bovy, Legal Adviser Expat Welcome Desk, commissioner.brussels (the meeting Chair), and Wout Van Doren and Jana Schellemans, Senior Associates at Fragomen Brussels.

Earlier this year a webinar presenting the rules around Belgian nationality was held and a newsletter published exploring the consequences of becoming Belgian. There is also a chapter of the Brexit Helpdesk dedicated to nationality.

You can register for the webinar by email here. A link to access the webinar will be sent in advance of the meeting.

Belgium is still your home

The two-year project around the Brexit Helpdesk funded by the citizens’ rights pillar of the EU’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve will soon come to an end. A report ‘Brexit Impact Scan for UK Citizens in Brussels’ will summarise the key lessons learnt and how information and guidance offered by the Expat Welcome Desk has been updated.

To launch the report, and mark the end of the project, an in-person event will take place on 29 November from 18h00 at the Commissioner. Brussels/ Commissioner for Europe and International Organizations offices in Avenue d'Auderghem.

All are welcome to join a panel discussion and reception to launch the report, with the participation of the UK Ambassador to Belgium and also BBCA representatives. The event promises to be a celebratory evening full of interesting data and practical advice for anyone interested in the British community in Belgium.

A full invitation will be available soon but you can already register for the event today!

Mr Jools Holland does not need much introduction to most Brits. From his first appearances with cockney-rock band Squeeze in the late 70s to his iconic long-running and  very popular BBC music programme 'Later...with Jools Holland', he has been a stalwart of the UK music scene for well over 40 years.

Since the early 1980s, Jools has been recording and touring with his big band. These concerts always turn into a true musical smorgasbord featuring exciting R&B, Boogie-woogie, Blues and Ska music.

And Jools and the band are back in Brussels at the Ancienne Belgique on 2 May 2024. More information and tickets here.

Enjoy Yourself!

The European Union is preparing to launch two new border management initiatives that will affect travel into Europe: the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and the Entry/Exit Systems (EES). An explainer of the two systems can be found here.

The original plan was to implement the systems in November of this year (2023), but Euronews has an update on implementation, and it looks like some elements of the systems will start implementation in late 2024 with the systems being fully operational in the first half of 2025.

Read the full Euronews article here.

The Bridge Theatre in Brussels is a professional English language theatre group producing socially relevant productions and their next production is ‘GROUNDED’. This play by George Brant will be performed between 8 and 25 November at Full Circle.

GROUNDED is a gripping and poetic drama following a fighter pilot who finds herself grounded at the height of her military career by an unexpected pregnancy. Returning to work, she is transferred to drone operator duty and struggles to separate remote warfare from real life. Written in 2012, GROUNDED vividly illustrates the daily complexities we all face linked to technological advances.

This production of GROUNDED is directed by the visionary Emma Howlett and will star the incredible Letty Thomas who has appeared in Netflix's The Crown, Bridgerton, and Damages amongst other work.

Who, what, where

GROUNDED by George Brant will be performed in English from 8 November to 25 November from 20h00 at Full Circle, 89 Chaussée de Vleurgat, 1050 Brussels.

After selected performances, post-show talks and Q&As with special guests will be hosted to discuss various different aspects of ‘How technology influences our relationship with work’. 

Find out more and book your seats here.

On the morning of Monday 13 November, the International Study Group (ISG) will be taking a look at the Global Drug Problem.

At the global level, the trade in illicit drugs has evolved over the past 10 years; especially since the Covid pandemic. It has become more difficult to control by physical (repressive) means; more integrated with other social dislocations (corruption, money laundering, insurgency); supply has diversified away from traditional production centres, mostly underdeveloped botanical centres, to local manufacturing in richer consuming countries; demand has shifted from typically a heavy addiction habit by a few, to daily leisure consumption as a generalised cultural practice.

Estimates of the number of people who used a drug in the past 12 months continues to slowly grow, reaching almost 300 million today. The increase is mostly attributable to global population growth (56% of all growth), as the estimated prevalence of drug use has increased minimally. Almost 1 in 13 people aged 13-64 worldwide used drugs in the past 12 months, and more than 1 in 100 has a serious drug disorder.

With an estimated 219 million users, cannabis remains by far the most used drug worldwide. An estimated 60 million people consumed non-medical opioids, the second most used drug type worldwide. The opioid trend remains a major concern due to potentially severe health consequences. Information about the use of ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine confirm moderate long-term increases, despite the high level of uncertainty given large data gaps.

ISG’s speaker on the 13th, Antonio Maria Costa, will examine these shifts in the drug market and outline their important implications for society. Antonio Maria Costa was Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Director-General of the United Nations Office in Vienna (UNOV) from 2002 to 2010. Now retired, he is currently editor-in-chief of the Journal of Policy Modelling published by the Society for Policy Modelling.

Who, what  where

This talk takes place on Monday 13 November 2023 starting with a welcome coffee at 10h00 and the talk starting at 10h30 am. The venue is Château Malou, Allée Pierre Levie 2, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. The talk is free to ISG members but guests are welcome paying a fee of €10 on the door.

For more information visit the ISG website.

Calling all book lovers! It is that time of year again: from Tuesday 14 November to Sunday 19 November the Belgian Red Cross will be holding its annual huge second-hand book sale in Brussels. In addition, there are stocks of games, vinyl, CDs, and DVDs – all at democratic prices.

Francophones and Flemish speakers in the city are very familiar with this annual Book Fest, which raises tens of thousands of Euros for the Red Cross every year, but the event also has a significant number of books in English also available at bargain prices.

To grab your winter reading head down to Rue de Stalle 96, 1180 Uccle between 10am and 6pm during the sale period and pick up those bargain books.

Entry is free, parking is available and access via public transport is easy via STIB Lines 4, 97, 43, 98 or 51 – alight at stops Wagon or Globe.

So spread the word to friends, family and colleagues and help support the fantastic and vital work of the Red Cross in Belgium and beyond!

You can find out more about the work of the Red Cross in Belgium on their website and Facebook page.

On Tuesday 17 October the Expat Welcome Desk of the Brussels Commissioners office is holding its next webinar. The subject this time is the Belgian Pensions and Social Security system and the webinar will start at 12 noon. The webinar is part of a series funded by the EU’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve.

Tax and social security are largely managed at national level, so these are complex issues for anyone who moves or works across borders. Understanding the rules on social security and pensions will help you claim the right coverage and make appropriate plans for retirement. Whether you live and work in Belgium, or you want to live here while keeping a UK-based job, you should join the webinar to learn more!

Topics to be addressed include:

• Social security contributions for UK citizens living and/or working in Belgium
• Access to social security and child benefits in Belgium, including for cross-border workers and families
• Claiming a state pension after a career split between the UK and Belgium

Legal experts will present an overview of the relevant rules and explore some case studies to give a more practical perspective on how to apply the principles to your own situation. After the presentations, there will be an open Q+A session.

The meeting will be chaired by Amélie Bovy, Legal Adviser Welcome Desk, commissioner.brussels and the speakers are Wim Cocquyt, Director, Fragomen Brussels and Jonas Helaut, Partner (tax & corporate), Everest Law Firm and Lecturer corporate tax and tax updating, AP University of applied sciences Antwerp.

To register for the webinar send an email to inscription@commissioner.brussels and a link will be sent to you before the webinar.