On August 8, Italy and Belgium marked the 70th anniversary of the Marcinelle mining disaster at the Bois du Cazier colliery in Charleroi, Belgium, where 262 miners died on August 8, 1956, in one of the deadliest industrial accidents in post-war European history; the majority of the victims were Italian migrant workers who had come to Belgium under a bilateral labour agreement

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli claimed his sixth Formula 1 pole position of the 2026 season at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on July 18, beating Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.317 seconds; Lando Norris of McLaren qualified P3 but was given a grid penalty and will start 13th when the Belgian Grand Prix runs on July 19

At least six construction workers were found dead in an elevator shaft at the Oxy Tower renovation site near Place de Brouckère in central Brussels on July 14, after a fire that firefighters initially contained reignited inside the lift shaft, trapping people; six more remained missing as rescue teams searched a second stuck elevator

Spain, European champions and the team with the tightest defensive record in the 2026 FIFA World Cup knockout rounds, meet Belgium in a quarterfinal on July 10 in the United States; Asharq Al-Awsat described Belgium's task as daunting given Spain's watertight defence, which has not been breached in the knockout stage

Eight teams remain from the 48 that started the 2026 World Cup in the United States; France meets Morocco in a 2022 semi-final rematch; Belgium eliminated co-host USA in the round of 16; quarterfinal matches run July 9-11

Belgium ended the United States' home World Cup run with a 3-1 victory on July 6, while Spain beat Portugal in the other round-of-16 match to set up the quarterfinal bracket alongside Norway, England, and the remaining round-of-16 winners

Belgium's Christian, socialist, and liberal union confederations staged a national strike on 12 May 2026, halting more than half of Brussels Airport flights and drawing between 40,000 and 75,000 marchers; six months of sustained action, including a three-day strike in November 2025 and a 100,000-person march on 12 March, has not moved the De Wever government on pension cuts or the mandatory retirement age of 67

Belgium's Chamber of Representatives formally adopted on 3 April 2026 legislation introducing a 10% solidarity contribution on realised gains from stocks, bonds, funds, and crypto, with a €10,000 annual per-person exemption; Belgium had been one of the last EU member states without a general tax on investment returns

Belgium confirmed on 26 March 2026 that its 2025 defence budget reached 2% of gross domestic product, the first time the country has met the NATO target since joining the alliance; the De Wever government has committed to a €34bn Strategic Vision for 2026-2034 targeting 2.5% of GDP by 2034 and 3.5% by 2035