Matter of Fact — Issue 1

Guy Verhofstadt, former Prime Minister of Belgium, former leader of the European Parliament's liberal group, and prominent advocate for European federalism, has published a new book. In it, he states that he began his political career fifty years before becoming Prime Minister in 1999. He was born in 1953. The publisher has not issued a correction. The book is available at all good bookshops, and several Belgian ones.

Between December 1918 and July 1919, the Kingdom of Siam — present-day Thailand — occupied a portion of the German Rhineland as part of the Allied post-war settlement. Siamese forces stationed at Neustadt an der Weinstraße maintained public order in a region whose residents had, in most cases, never previously encountered anyone from Southeast Asia. Nineteen Siamese soldiers died, mostly of influenza and Spanish flu during the winter of 1918 to 1919. None died in combat. Before returning home, Siamese troops marched in the Allied victory parades in Paris, London, and Brussels. This is not a joke. It is, however, relevant context for anyone seeking to understand European history, the nature of alliances, and who has been marching through Brussels rather longer than is generally remembered.

The European Union's AI Act entered into force on 2 August 2026, introducing the world's first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence. Among its provisions: AI systems must not deceive users, chatbots must identify themselves as non-human, and content generated by artificial intelligence must be clearly labelled as such. The Commission welcomed the new rules in a press release of considerable length, none of which was generated by artificial intelligence. The press release describes the AI Act as establishing "a framework for trustworthy AI in Europe." It does not define trustworthy. A definition is expected in due course, pending a stakeholder consultation.