Yngvild Ingels: “Six months after the floods, the federal government is still nowhere.”

Six months after the unprecedented and devastating floods last summer, the federal government is still nowhere with the analysis of the disaster. Minister of the Interior Verlinden refused the N-VA’s request for an inquiry committee. But even her own plans - a “discovery committee” - remain mere words six months later.

N-VA MP Yngvild Ingels regrets this delay: “Yet there are many questions that have to be answered: Why were we not better prepared for such disasters? Why was the alarm for evacuation raised too late? Why did it then take so long to rescue the victims from their rooftops? And above all, was this human toll avoidable?”

Minister Verlinden is not responding

“We owe it to ourselves and certainly to the victims to look at what went wrong, with an open mind,” Yngvild says. “In order to gain new insights and draw up better plans.” That is why the N-VA wanted to set up an inquiry committee shortly after the disaster. But Minister Verlinden did not respond. It was not until a month later that Verlinden presented a proposal for a discovery committee. But very little is happening there, either. The Walloon government had already prepared a report with recommendations in October last year. That is why Yngvild Ingels is submitting a motion of recommendation to Minister Verlinden as an incentive.

Cold houses

“So there is only one regrettable conclusion: six months after the disaster, we are no further. Fortunately, those affected are indeed able to move on. In cold houses, but under a warm blanket of solidarity and support,” Yngvild Ingels concludes.