BGM DigestBGM Digest — Week 35 (24-30 August 2026)
Shootings and Security: Double Counting Reveals Crisis Scale
The Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office quantified the wave of shootings on 28 August: sixty-nine since 1 January 2026, one hundred two in 2025, approximately one hundred fifty-two explosions since February 2025. Meanwhile, the federal police count fifty-seven shootings over the first seven months of 2026. These two counts, which do not overlap and whose respective scopes remain unclear, now coexist on the security page.
The prosecutor's office framework includes forty-nine magistrates out of sixty-three authorized positions. The prosecutor estimates that ten million euros in additional resources are needed. On 26 August, five hundred fifty officers — including seventy military personnel — conducted a coordinated control operation at Clemenceau, Yser, Rogier and Hankar.
Meanwhile, the Regional Security Council on 26 August approved forty federal police officers and twenty mobile cameras within twenty days. A unified command under the chief of the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone will coordinate the six police zones. The federal Interior Minister separately announced a reserve platoon. These three announcements are not cumulative, and no source consolidates an actual operational total.
The selection for regional commissioner of security and drugs lists eleven candidates — an increase from the eight originally announced.
Mobility and Infrastructure: Tunnels and E-Scooters
The federal Beliris fund allocates one hundred million euros to renovate the Belliard and Law tunnels, according to L'Echo. Work was supposed to begin in 2024 and has been postponed twice. No schedule has been published.
As of 1 September 2026, helmets become mandatory for electric scooters with construction speeds exceeding twenty kilometres per hour.
Municipal Budget and Poverty: Brussels City Raises Taxes, One Municipality in Distress
City of Brussels has raised its additional property tax percentages from 2,950 to 3,457, a 17.2 % increase, with notices mailed from 17 August 2026. The increase is fully offset for owner-occupants through a flat municipal deduction of one hundred euros and the regional Be-Home premium. The doubling of this premium — one hundred sixty-four euros in 2026, three hundred twenty-eight euros in 2027 — is a regional commitment that absorbs the municipal increase rather than relieving taxpayers.
According to the King Baudouin Foundation barometer published 27 August, 23.2 % of Brussels households face water poverty in 2024 — the highest proportion of the three regions and rising since 2021. By comparison, this rate is 15.6 % in Wallonia and 8.5 % in Flanders.
Brussels Airspace: 3,815 Noise Limit Breaches in Four Months
Brussels Environment recorded 3,815 exceedances of Brussels noise standards between January and April 2026. Averaged monthly, the rate doubles: four hundred seventy-six per month in 2025, nine hundred fifty-four per month in 2026. Approximately 80 % of breaches originate from a single monitoring station in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, making the finding heavily dependent on one measurement point.
Casino: Expected Ruling Not Published
The Court of Audit's decision on the Brussels casino concession, announced for 28 August, did not materialise by 30 August. The Auditor General's opinion of 21 August — recommending suspension — remains the last known act. No date has been announced.
Nature Restoration Plan: Belgium Misses EU Deadline
Belgium will not meet the European deadline of 1 September 2026 for submitting its nature restoration plan. Wallonia and Brussels have not completed their preparations. The calendar published on the official Renature Brussels website forecast first-reading adoption by summer 2026; the Secretary of State for Climate now cites September or October.
Additionally, Brussels has recorded the first detection of West Nile virus in four birds in Laeken and Schaerbeek.
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode: Legal Action Against Region
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode announces judicial and administrative recourse against the Region, alleging deliberate financial asphyxiation. The municipality learned on 30 July of refusal to approve its 2024 accounts — for the second time. Without approved accounts, there is no 2026 budget; without a budget, no full access to regional funding. It is excluded from the one hundred fifty million euro package for municipalities in difficulty.
Youth Unemployment: Marked Deterioration
Of 97,392 job-seekers registered with Actiris at the end of July 2026, 11 % are under twenty-five years old. This group is rising 17 % year-on-year. For youth in professional integration stages, the increase reaches 30 %.
This version was produced by machine translation and has not been systematically reviewed. The French version is the reference version. Read the French version.
Source: Brussels Governance Monitor — independent civic monitoring of Brussels governance.