The N-VA puts ending the curfew on the table

Group chairman in the House, Peter de Roover, introduced a bill to end the curfew. “Hopefully, there will then be a serious and public debate in the House about the imposition of this collective house arrest.”

The continuation of the curfew is causing great concern. This is logical, because the imposition of such a collective house arrest affects a fundamental basic right. The introduction and enforcement of a curfew was not openly debated in parliament. The N-VA parliamentary group now wants to force this by submitting a bill that puts an end to the curfew, which was introduced by ministerial decree. “If there are good arguments for extending that curfew, we want parliament to be informed of these. However, we notice that such crucial information is not communicated to the people’s representatives,” Peter De Roover says. “By submitting our bill, we are forcing the government to justify its policy on this and all MPs to show their true colours.”

Peter De Roover: “This is about basic respect for democracy.”

The chairman of Open Vld Egbert Lachaert recently called for a thorough debate on the curfew, but nothing further happened. Questions from the N-VA parliamentary group about the arguments for extending the curfew remain unanswered. That is why Peter De Roover is now taking a necessary step further. “We are now counting on Open Vld to follow us in this. We will request the urgent consideration of our bill so that the debate in the House can be held soon. Restricting basic rights by ministerial decree without open debate with the pros and cons and without weighing up proportionality is unacceptable to us. This is not about the question of easing, but about the effectiveness of measures and, of course, about basic respect for democracy.”