{"id":71160,"date":"2019-01-18T11:36:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T10:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/tcm-our-new-years-letter\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T19:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T18:57:08","slug":"tcm-our-new-years-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/tcm-our-new-years-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"TCM : Our New Year’s letter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our New Year’s letter<\/h1>\n\n\n
\n
\"TCM<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There’s something about it, the fresh, new beginning of the year. Abandoned pavements in the dark morning, bathed in the warm glow of the street lamps, the realization that the absence of \u2018the others\u2019 means that, behind the silent facades, they are still sleeping sound under their blankets. Empty offices whose hopeful expectations (they’re called New Year resolutions) are not yet dusted off or buried under work. Even the wetness of the past few weeks, in the form of mild rain and soggy New Year’s kisses, could not dampen our spirits. Most of us were hoping for some snow, just to complete the picture, however old we might be. \u00a0 \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, in a changed climate on a global scale. Austria seems to have made off with all the snow, with risk of avalanches and having to dig cars out as a result. And still we hear Peter van de Veire hoping for a polar vortex. In other words, \u2018normal\u2019 extreme winter weather. Ahot topic<\/em>during 2018 all the same, this global warming. Meanwhile Indonesia has been hit by tsunamis and earthquakes.\u201cTogether we must do something about it, the world is a beautiful thing but needs a lot of work\u201d<\/em>, during his \u2018Dagelijkse Kost\u2019 Jeroen Meus hums the children’s song by Lex Van Tuyl Sr. that is now more topical than ever. Last month Brussels was swamped by 65,000 environmental activists during the biggest Belgian climate march ever. We also see the growing concern for the impact on our environment in the increasing numbers of enterprises responding to the issue. Consider for example ourpartner Go4Circle<\/a>, an umbrella organization forenterprises that are committed to the circular economy<\/a>with as many as 220 members. Besides Go4Circle TCM also maintains various otherpartnerships with federations<\/a>. \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, but everywhere the national frontiers are more open than ever and under great pressure. Globalization brings many opportunities and challenges, but also brings worldwide conflicts to our doorsteps. The value of our goodinternational cooperations<\/a>is abundantly clear and steers a course betweenBrexit<\/a>, Trump’s wall, the streams of immigrants, the trade war, \u2026 . 2018 was again an intensely political year, a year in which TCM strengthened the internationals bonds with our foreign colleagues duringthe AGM in Argentina<\/a>in May 2018. \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, but Europe wields the sceptre in legal affairs. Or the scales of Lady Justice. On 25 May 2018the GDPR legislation<\/a>entered into effect, with additional obligations regarding the protection of privacy and further IT adaptations as a consequence. TCM Belgium has already taken extensive measures to protect privacy (in line with the legislation of 1992 and the code of professional ethics of the national debt recovery coordinatorABR-BVI<\/a>and its international equivalent FENCA), and has recently further aligned itsadvanced IT systems<\/a>to the new directives, with the continuation ofthe penetration test<\/a>as cherry on the cake. \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, and we sometimes forget that (child) poverty is present in our country too. TCM Belgiumworks together with many schools<\/a>and makes great efforts to find solutions the amicable way. TCM also works alongsidevzw De Welzijnszorg<\/a>andproject STOS<\/a>, both of them organizations involved in the battle against (child) poverty. We also provide input to the Cabinet of Minister Crevits regarding accurate info about thissensitive problem<\/a>. \u00a0And let’s stay in Belgium just a moment<\/strong>, as we hear on the news that a major client ofTCM China<\/a>, Alibaba, is planning to build a distribution centre in Li\u00e8ge. Good for the creation of many jobs, as well as being the No. 1 gateway for Chinese goods in Europe. \u00a0 We feel a sense of gratitude as we look back over a professionally highly active 25th<\/sup>(!) year of TCM. Throughout the years we have always remained true to ouroriginal values<\/a>(all the rest has already been seen to with a make-over), so we have not made any change this year either. Something that strikes us as self-evident, but perhaps precisely what, more than ever, sets us apart in a world that always expects more and seems to spin ever faster. 2018 was a year with many achievements IT-side, the further development and expansion ofour visitors’ service<\/a>which is unique in Belgium and probably anywhere else in the world, the successful conclusion of many assigned files and receiving the confidence of more than 1,960 active clients. And we would not be TCM Belgium if we did not now stick our noses (far) out, full of expectation, looking forward to 2020, when it will be our turn to host the annual congress of the worldwide TCM Group network in Brussels and allow our foreign colleagues to acquaint themselves with our country and our clients. \u00a0 The end of the second working week of the year is in sight, and who knows perhaps our compatriots held hostage by the Austrian snow reached home safely in the time it took you to read this letter. The roads are meanwhile clogging up again, much like the arteries of many a fellow sufferer after an overdose of food, heaped up by well-intentioned aunties on many a dinner table these past few weeks. \u00a0 In any case, the phrase\u201cThank God it\u2019s Friday\u201d<\/em>applies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Our New Year’s letter<\/h1>\n\n\n
\n
\"TCM<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There’s something about it, the fresh, new beginning of the year. Abandoned pavements in the dark morning, bathed in the warm glow of the street lamps, the realization that the absence of \u2018the others\u2019 means that, behind the silent facades, they are still sleeping sound under their blankets. Empty offices whose hopeful expectations (they’re called New Year resolutions) are not yet dusted off or buried under work. Even the wetness of the past few weeks, in the form of mild rain and soggy New Year’s kisses, could not dampen our spirits. Most of us were hoping for some snow, just to complete the picture, however old we might be. \u00a0 \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, in a changed climate on a global scale. Austria seems to have made off with all the snow, with risk of avalanches and having to dig cars out as a result. And still we hear Peter van de Veire hoping for a polar vortex. In other words, \u2018normal\u2019 extreme winter weather. Ahot topic<\/em>during 2018 all the same, this global warming. Meanwhile Indonesia has been hit by tsunamis and earthquakes.\u201cTogether we must do something about it, the world is a beautiful thing but needs a lot of work\u201d<\/em>, during his \u2018Dagelijkse Kost\u2019 Jeroen Meus hums the children’s song by Lex Van Tuyl Sr. that is now more topical than ever. Last month Brussels was swamped by 65,000 environmental activists during the biggest Belgian climate march ever. We also see the growing concern for the impact on our environment in the increasing numbers of enterprises responding to the issue. Consider for example ourpartner Go4Circle<\/a>, an umbrella organization forenterprises that are committed to the circular economy<\/a>with as many as 220 members. Besides Go4Circle TCM also maintains various otherpartnerships with federations<\/a>. \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, but everywhere the national frontiers are more open than ever and under great pressure. Globalization brings many opportunities and challenges, but also brings worldwide conflicts to our doorsteps. The value of our goodinternational cooperations<\/a>is abundantly clear and steers a course betweenBrexit<\/a>, Trump’s wall, the streams of immigrants, the trade war, \u2026 . 2018 was again an intensely political year, a year in which TCM strengthened the internationals bonds with our foreign colleagues duringthe AGM in Argentina<\/a>in May 2018. \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, but Europe wields the sceptre in legal affairs. Or the scales of Lady Justice. On 25 May 2018the GDPR legislation<\/a>entered into effect, with additional obligations regarding the protection of privacy and further IT adaptations as a consequence. TCM Belgium has already taken extensive measures to protect privacy (in line with the legislation of 1992 and the code of professional ethics of the national debt recovery coordinatorABR-BVI<\/a>and its international equivalent FENCA), and has recently further aligned itsadvanced IT systems<\/a>to the new directives, with the continuation ofthe penetration test<\/a>as cherry on the cake. \u00a0After all, this is Belgium<\/strong>, and we sometimes forget that (child) poverty is present in our country too. TCM Belgiumworks together with many schools<\/a>and makes great efforts to find solutions the amicable way. TCM also works alongsidevzw De Welzijnszorg<\/a>andproject STOS<\/a>, both of them organizations involved in the battle against (child) poverty. We also provide input to the Cabinet of Minister Crevits regarding accurate info about thissensitive problem<\/a>. \u00a0And let’s stay in Belgium just a moment<\/strong>, as we hear on the news that a major client ofTCM China<\/a>, Alibaba, is planning to build a distribution centre in Li\u00e8ge. Good for the creation of many jobs, as well as being the No. 1 gateway for Chinese goods in Europe. \u00a0 We feel a sense of gratitude as we look back over a professionally highly active 25th<\/sup>(!) year of TCM. Throughout the years we have always remained true to ouroriginal values<\/a>(all the rest has already been seen to with a make-over), so we have not made any change this year either. Something that strikes us as self-evident, but perhaps precisely what, more than ever, sets us apart in a world that always expects more and seems to spin ever faster. 2018 was a year with many achievements IT-side, the further development and expansion ofour visitors’ service<\/a>which is unique in Belgium and probably anywhere else in the world, the successful conclusion of many assigned files and receiving the confidence of more than 1,960 active clients. And we would not be TCM Belgium if we did not now stick our noses (far) out, full of expectation, looking forward to 2020, when it will be our turn to host the annual congress of the worldwide TCM Group network in Brussels and allow our foreign colleagues to acquaint themselves with our country and our clients. \u00a0 The end of the second working week of the year is in sight, and who knows perhaps our compatriots held hostage by the Austrian snow reached home safely in the time it took you to read this letter. The roads are meanwhile clogging up again, much like the arteries of many a fellow sufferer after an overdose of food, heaped up by well-intentioned aunties on many a dinner table these past few weeks. \u00a0 In any case, the phrase\u201cThank God it\u2019s Friday\u201d<\/em>applies! \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our New Year’s letter There’s something about it, the fresh, new beginning of the year. Abandoned pavements in the dark morning, bathed in the warm glow of the street lamps, the realization that the absence of \u2018the others\u2019 means that, behind the silent facades, they are still sleeping sound under their blankets. Empty offices whose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":15684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72155,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71160\/revisions\/72155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tcm.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}