News

In the debate on European fiscal policy, analyses and proposals for a return to fiscal orthodoxy follow one another. These  are not only very alike, but also similar to those of the 1990s.   

On Monday, an international ministerial conference on climate change will be held in Copenhagen.The first conference since COP27, that took place last November at Sharm al-Sheikh, will be hosted for two days by the current and incoming Presidencies of the Conference of the Parties on Climate, namely Egypt and United Arab Emirates. Organized to assess COP27, the Belgian Federal Minister for Climate and Chief of Delegation, Zakia Khattabi, will attend both days of work with the firm intention of…

On Friday, 3 March 2023, the Council of Ministers took note of the final version of the federal adaptation measures 2023-2026 proposed by Federal Minister for Climate Zakia Khattabi. A coherent package of 28 measures that aims at a climate resilient society by 2050.

Federal Environment Minister Zakia Khattabi presented her federal biocides reduction plan to the Council of Ministers today. The draft royal decree approved by the Vivaldi government is based on the precautionary principle and aims at a high level of protection of human, animal and environmental health, with particular attention to the protection of vulnerable groups.

Led by ministers Zakia Khattabi and Hadja Lahbib, Belgium is officially co-sponsoring Vanuatu's UNGA resolution that will seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the obligations of states with regard to climate change . On this basis, the International Court of Justice will formulate an opinion on the legal implications for states, especially with regard to small island states and current and future generations, concerning the damage they are causing to the…

There are four perspectives on a just transition in Belgium. This is demonstrated by the results of a study carried out by the ULB under the supervision of Professor Marek Hudon, also co-chair of the High Committee for a Just Transition. The High Committee on Just Transition is an initiative initiated by Minister Zakia Khattabi where several experts have been nominated to formulate policy recommendations on how to organize and institutionalize a just transition in Belgium. This study analyzes…

The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued yesterday a judgment on pesticide exemptions prohibited in Europe, which several Member States continue to extend year after year. The Court confirms that there is abuse in the recourse to derogations. 

 On 19 December 2022, the international community reached an agreement in Montreal on a global framework for the protection of biodiversity. For federal environment minister and head of delegation for Belgium at COP15, Zakia Khattabi, Montreal was to be for biodiversity what Paris was for climate: the beginning of ambitious and coordinated cooperation for biodiversity protection and restoration. "Last night's agreement lives up to that expectation. The 30*30 target was adopted and…

Dear Executive Secretary CBD Mrs Mrema Elisabeth, Dear CBD presidency China, Dear hosting country Canada, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, Every day we are increasingly facing the devastating impacts of biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution and ecosystem disruption. These global interlinked crises require joint solutions. Halting and reversing biodiversity loss is ultimately inevitable for the achievement of the SDGs within the next 7 years.As member of the…

On this International Day of No Pesticide Use, which commemorates one of the world's biggest industrial disasters in Bhopal, India, in which thousands of people were killed due to a gas leak from a pesticide factory, Federal Minister of the Environment, Zakia Khattabi, announces a draft royal decree to ban the export of hazardous pesticides made and delivered by Belgium to countries in the south, but prohibited in Europe. The text, ratified last week by the…