The Vivaldi government is not as supportive of earthquake victims as it claims to be

“Announcing EUR 13 million in aid and actually granting only EUR 4 million in new aid, you have to be in a Vivaldi party for that,” says MP Kathleen Depoorter.

In the week after the disastrous earthquake in Turkey and Syria, the federal government announced that it would provide EUR 5 million in humanitarian aid for the Syrian victims. In addition, EUR 8 million would be provided for the victims in Turkey. Five federal ministers turn out to be responsible for coordinating the aid, so every announcement attracted crowds from the media. But as it turns out now, a large part of the promised money will not be an extra allocation, as Vivaldi explains. It was already included in the budgets.

Money for war victims

For example, there is the EUR 5 million announced by Minister of Development Cooperation Caroline Gennez, largely for the UN Cross Border Fund in Syria. Of this, it appears that EUR 4 million has already been earmarked for this in the budget. “It is hard to think that the minister was so foresighted that she would know that such a natural disaster would occur in Syria. The area has been affected by war for many years, so the funds were obviously provided to help the war victims,” Kathleen Depoorter says.

The purchase price is included

The decision to release EUR 8 million for a field hospital in Turkey also bears witness to clever arithmetic. Because the purchase of that hospital - bought two years ago for EUR 5 million but still without international recognition - is included in the calculation of that EUR 8 million.

Cynical political marketing

“The Vooruit party ministers are now happy to congratulate themselves on the fact that the Vivaldi government is showing solidarity with the victims in Turkey and Syria by allocating a helpline of EUR 13 million. But the truth is that it involves far less additional funding. A total of EUR 4 million in additional funds will be allocated. Communication does need to be honest and correct. This is cynical political marketing!” says Depoorter. “This half-hearted communication proves once again that the Vivaldi government no longer has time for policy. In the committee, four of the seven Vivaldi parties called for more funds to be released for the victims. There is a deafening silence on the part of the government.”