ARBITORIA

Brussels

Enter

We do not argue. We rearrange.

Money

What becomes value, and how it moves

  1. Where the conditions are written Brussels has cleared €5.92 billion of German money for two chip plants in Dresden. The promise to share any unexpected profits with Germany is written into the approvals. We went looking for where it says what happens if the projects stop. October 12, 2026
  2. The minutes that didn't add up Surveys confirm that AI saves people time at work. That time shows up in neither pay nor hours. To see where it stops, we opened the Belgian rules that decide what wages and working time can do. September 28, 2026
  3. Who was the €90 billion for? Since the Strait of Hormuz closed, Europe has paid an extra €90 billion for fossil fuels, according to the president of the European Commission. We followed the money: who paid it, which countries' fuel it bought, what it kept going, and what it left behind. September 22, 2026
  4. Give the house now, or leave it later? In Belgium, parents can pass their home to their children in two ways: as a gift while they are alive, or as an inheritance after they die. We checked three common beliefs against the rules of all three regions, and ran the numbers on a hypothetical €350,000 house. September 15, 2026
  5. Who gets the extra €100? When people produce more, the gain has to go somewhere: into pay, lower prices, shareholders, tax or new investment. Evidence from Denmark and Belgium shows where it has been going — and why AI isn't the cause. September 11, 2026
  6. I thought I was saving for my own pension A state pension doesn't build up in a pot with your name on it. It passes from the people working now to the people retired now. In Belgium there are five people in work for every three pensioners; by 2070 it will be five for every four. So what will pay for pensions — more people, or more output from each of them? September 10, 2026
  7. Phone bills fell. Where did the money go, and where did the workers go? In Italy, Spain and Portugal, losing your job costs three times as much in lost earnings as in Denmark or Sweden. All of these countries measure the loss. Measuring it is not what makes the difference. August 28, 2026