Actua on BeLibre - Belgian independent knowledge and policy platform

BeLibre meetup: Grassroots steps towards digital Sovereignty

Jurgen Gaeremyn — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0100

🎉 Join us in Brussels for our very first physical meetup! Register now and be part of this exciting milestone for BeLibre. 🥂

The pigeon that flew back: how Belgium quietly chose open source messaging

Emma, Jurgen Gaeremyn — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine: the year is 1914. Somewhere on the Western Front, a small pigeon is released with a message tied to its leg. It doesn’t know why. It doesn’t know for whom. It simply flies - reliable, unseen, tireless - and delivers the message.

For centuries, the pigeon was the gold standard of secure communication. No wires to tap. No central server to hack. Decentralised by nature. And surprisingly hard to intercept.

Banks and the Digital Divide: Let's Build Solutions Together for Everyone

Nicolas Pettiaux, Jurgen Gaeremyn — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 09:00:00 +0100

The testimony from Nathalie on the RTL website has touched us in the BeLibre community. In many places, we heard and read indignation about the way these persons got handled. This story is about ING, but we notice a trend toward further digitalization and dehumanizing of consumer banking at multiple banks.

The move toward digital banking offers opportunities for convenience and innovation. The past decades have already proven this. Banking with the card reader has become commonplace, and for many, it has become unthinkable that you would still need to queue at the counter for a simple transfer. Yet thirty years ago there was also much protest when this concept was introduced. Are we being too conservative again, clinging too tightly to our established certainties?

BeLibre Sovereignty Map

Mon, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Interactive map where you can discover digital sovereignty in municipalities, schools, emergency services or other critical infrastructure in our country and beyond.