Belgian news in brief, 3 May 2006

Workers in Belgium get less training

Employees in Belgium gain a third less workplace training than colleagues in other European countries, consultancy bureau PricewaterhouseCoopers has said. On average, a worker in Belgium gains 16.5 hours in training compared with 24 across Europe. Training costs are higher in Belgium than other European countries.

Solvay fined for price fixing

The European Commission has fined seven chemical companies, including Belgian firm Solvay, a total of EUR 388 million for price fixing. The chemical companies illegally fixed the price of hydrogen peroxide and related products. Solvay was fined the mos: EUR 167 million. Arkema, which is owned by Total, will have pay EUR 79 million.

20pc suffer mental health problems

One in five Flemish people have psychological problems and three people commit suicide every day in Flanders. To combat the problems, the Flemish Health Ministry has launched a new information campaign with 10 tips aimed at helping people keep mentally healthy. One of the main tips was to talk about problems.

Subject: Belgian news