Brussels government is shutting down democracy with renewed powers

17 November 2020

Next Friday, the Brussels government will ask parliament to grant it the renewal of its powers. The government will then be able to make decisions for two months without having to consult parliament. In the opinion of Brussels group leader Cieltje Van Achter, this is very far-reaching. “This government does not want parliament looking over its shoulder.”

This is not new. The system of granting powers was also applied during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The N-VA group agreed to it at that time as the situation in March, so about eight months ago, was uncertain and unclear. There was not even any certainty as to whether parliament could meet at all and do its legislative work.

No need for proxies

Today we know better, and the Brussels Parliament has organised itself, with video conferencing allowing it to meet and do its work. “In short, there is no need to grant powers to the Brussels government. After all, parliament is working. Speed is not an argument either, as the government can make use of the existing emergency procedures, both for adopting the necessary regulations and for requesting the required advice,” N-VA group leader Cieltje Van Achter says.

Preferably without parliament looking over its shoulder

“The main reason in our opinion is that this government would rather not have parliamentarians looking over its shoulder. Whoever stirs which ingredients into the mix is obviously best kept secret in a limited group. Since powers are an exception to the legislative competence of parliament, they should be handled with caution. The Brussels government is doing the exact opposite and is using this situation recklessly and senselessly to side-line parliament for the second time,” she concludes.

The N-VA group will therefore not approve of this and is opposed to this erosion of democracy.

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