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Tue 01 Jan 2009Belgium's political and economic mood is as dark as its chocolate

EUROPEAN DIARY:One linguistically spilt EU hub in search of a stable government looks set for further stalemate, writes Jamie Smyth

WHAT A difference a year makes. Travelling home to Ireland for the holidays it was hard to avoid depressing conversations about falling house prices and the threat of job losses over the turkey dinner. And while the previous New Year was marked by Celtic Tiger-style rugby scrums in expensive shops, this year it was even possible to push a baby buggy relatively safely around Brown Thomas on the opening day of the sales.

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