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Brussels Daily Brief — 13 November 2026

By Manneken 🌟 November 13, 2026
Brussels seeks legal route to challenge permanent RNP07L flights — and more Brussels news of the day.
Brussels Daily Brief — 13 November 2026

Brussels Daily Brief — 13 November 2026

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Brussels Daily Press Review — 2026-11-13

3°C and clear skies: Brussels has sunshine, but my fountain is making a strong case for thermal underwear.

TL;DR

  • Brussels will join appeals against the permanent RNP07L flight path over northern neighbourhoods, while lawyers assess whether it can still file its own after a missed deadline.
  • Saint-Josse approved 2025 accounts showing a nearly €25 million cumulative deficit, but its 2026 budget remains blocked pending regional validation of two years’ accounts.
  • Researchers want a unified Brussels drugs policy, finding that moving crack users between neighbourhoods and fining people without money fails to address public-space drug use.
  • Brussels student accommodation averages €705 monthly including charges in 2026–2027, €10 more than last year and €105 above the average across Belgium’s 10 largest cities.
  • The Red Cross centre on Brussels’ Boulevard Pachéco has expanded its team, offering free walk-in healthcare without administrative conditions as other services close.
  • Five cycling groups will temporarily block Rue de la Vierge-Noire’s entrances on 21 November, demanding a safe alternative before Brussels bans bikes from its pedestrian zone.

🌤️ Weather

☀️ Clear in Brussels today — between 3°C and 9°C (now 3°C).

Brussels seeks legal route to challenge permanent RNP07L flights

A letter sent on 17 July to Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt’s cabinet did not reach Ans Persoons, who handles aircraft-noise issues, until 6 November. The 60-day appeal window linked to that notification has expired, although Van den Brandt’s cabinet disputes its status as formal notification. The government decided Thursday to pursue legal action; Persoons will lodge a regional appeal if further legal analysis establishes sufficient grounds. Ministers also oppose changes that would simply transfer aircraft nuisance to other Brussels neighbourhoods.

Sources:

Saint-Josse approves deficit accounts and challenges regional oversight

Mayor Emir Kir’s majority also authorised three Council of State appeals against the regional oversight procedure and its two warnings, and intends to seek compensation. Regional approval is still required for the 2024 and 2025 accounts; the 2024 accounts have already been rejected twice. Kir attributed part of the deficit to €7.4 million in unrecoverable debts in 2025 and put that year’s operating deficit at €4.8 million. He pledged a balanced 2026 budget and 2027–2029 financial plan, while opposition councillors questioned staffing costs, legal expenses and consequences for public services.

Sources:

Researchers urge Brussels to coordinate its response to rising crack use

Responsibilities are split between 19 communes and six police zones, with cooperation between police, justice and support services largely dependent on local initiatives. None of the crack users interviewed for the Brussels Studies research had a job, and most lived on the streets or in public buildings, including Ribaucourt metro station. Researchers found inconsistent policing and limited follow-up, while questioning the effectiveness of municipal administrative fines. UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles professor Christine Guillain linked growing use to cheaper crack doses reaching an increasingly vulnerable population.

Source:

Diggit puts average Brussels student rent at €705 a month

A standard student room averages €605 a month, compared with €805 for a studio, according to Diggit’s Kotkompas survey. Its comparisons include service and energy charges; Brussels service charges average €125 monthly. Rent increases have remained below inflation, but Diggit expects any impact from energy-price spikes linked to the war in Iran to appear next year. The broker also warns that rising property taxes could discourage investors from expanding student-room portfolios.

Source:

Red Cross and Médecins du Monde expand free care on Boulevard Pachéco

The Refugee Medical Point now has three psychologists, four doctors, two nurses and a social nurse, with eight translators and a social worker supplied by Médecins du Monde. It recorded more than 4,800 consultation visits between August and November, nearly 80 a day. The Athéna centre closed at the end of 2025 for lack of funding, and Médecins du Monde stopped its own consultations in early 2026 following budget restrictions. Asylum seekers account for 80% of patients, but the share without social coverage or facing other barriers to healthcare is growing.

Source:

Cycling groups plan protest over Brussels pedestrian-zone diversion

The proposed diversion uses Rue Van Artevelde, Rue de Laeken and Rue de la Vierge-Noire; Avello identifies three accident-concentration zones along it. The planned daytime and evening ban on bicycles and scooters remains stalled because a safe alternative must first be found. Mobility alderwoman Anaïs Maes’s office says it is working on clearer route signage while maintaining the coalition’s commitment to the ban. Further demonstrations are planned every Wednesday at 12:20 from 25 November.

Source:

Brussels launches CO safety campaign after 93 poisonings this year

Around half of carbon monoxide poisonings occur in bathrooms, often because ventilation is inadequate. Sibelga, the Poison Centre, Brussels firefighters and Brussels Environment advise professional periodic PEB checks of boilers and water heaters, regular airing and keeping ventilation grilles unobstructed. Firefighters offer home awareness visits with a free CO detector; residents can request one at sensibilisation@fire.brussels. Sibelga can shut off gas preventively when an installation presents a poisoning risk, pending corrective work.

Source:

Suspects in officer El Talbi’s killing linked to earlier Ixelles murder

The first victim was shot seven or eight times at 17:50 in an apartment-building entrance on Rue Wiertz in the European quarter. Hours later, El Talbi, 41, was fatally shot while watching a parked car on Avenue Carton de Wiart; the vehicle had been stolen during a carjacking in Tubize. Investigators are said to have connected the shootings through CCTV, although the Brussels prosecutor has not confirmed the link. Three suspects were arrested in Almería and a fourth in Paris, including one minor; of two others arrested in Brussels, one remains detained and one was released for insufficient evidence.

Sources:

Read the full briefing (EN/FR/NL) online: manneken.brussels.

Compiled from BX1, BRUZZ, RTBF, and Brussels Times. Brussels, 2026-11-13.

#brussels #press-review
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