The China Mail - Belgium prepares for three days of national strikes

The strikes are taking place in three waves. Trains and public transport begin striking Monday, with national railroad company SNCB expecting to run two out of three trains, or just one out of three on some lines. Several Eurostars linking Brussels to Paris have been cancelled.

On Tuesday, public services such as schools, creches, and hospitals join the strike.

For Wednesday, unions have called for a full general strike covering all categories.

No flights are expected Wednesday at the country's two main airports, Bruxelles-Zaventem and Charleroi.

- 'Contempt' -

The strike was called by the main Belgian unions who are in a stand-off with Prime Minister Bart De Wever over his efforts to shrink the country's debt, one of the highest in Europe along with Greece, Italy and France.

In power since February, the Flemish conservative is trying to impose a major austerity effort through a series of unprecedented structural reforms concerning labour market liberalisation, unemployment benefits, and pensions.

But only a small number of the measures proposed by De Wever have been implemented so far, largely because of divisions within his five-party coalition.

He has given his coalition until Christmas to come to an agreement, also on his request for spending cuts to cover an increase in the military budget.

The strike is intended to put pressure on the parties as they negotiate between themselves.

This is "an appeal to Prime Minister De Wever and the entire government to put an end to the dismantling of social programs," the unions stated in a press release.

The socialist union FGTB accused the Prime Minister of showing "contempt" and "disrespect" towards this social movement.

De Wever's entourage declined requests to comment.

Earlier union efforts have had mixed results. Some tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Brussels in mid-October to protest what they called "brutal" budget cuts.

W.Tam--ThChM