The Open VLD initiated disciplinary proceedings against the politician because she provided a signature to author and politician Dyab Abou Jahjah to allow the Viva Palestina party to participate in the Brussels elections.
Things have been difficult between Zamouri and the Open VLD for some time, and she recently also supported the PS in postponing the vote on the Animal Welfare Codex, which could be amended with a ban on slaughter without stunning when it is discussed in the Brussels Parliament. Open VLD chairman Tom Ongena asked her to withdraw support at the beginning of April.
“Collateral damage”
In response to the start of the internal disciplinary procedure, Zamouri says that she is leaving the Open VLD and handing in her membership card. “Today, after 24 years of being a loyal member of the party, I am being summoned before the disciplinary committee because I gave my signature to a party that stands up with an important message that is not in line with the vision of its French-speaking sister party (MR, ed.)”, concludes Zamouri. “And so I am collateral damage.”
Zamouri says she never considered joining another party. “This is because we as liberals believe in the feasibility of your happiness and that you should take your life into your own hands. I cannot reconcile this with the ban imposed on me of having to withdraw my signature as a Member of Parliament if it does not suit us for electoral reasons.”
Zamouri also says about the postponement of the vote on the Animal Welfare Codex in the Brussels parliament that he is “being drawn into the debate about slaughter without stunning.” Zamouri says that she is not necessarily against a ban on slaughter without stunning: “I abstained because I felt that the codex did not go far enough. Frog legs can still be jerked off, lobsters and foie gras are still consumed à volonté. Only when all animals are included in the codex will I believe that it is really about animal welfare. Until then, it is merely political profiling against an ethnic group.”
No more candidate
The politician, who will sit as an independent MP until the elections, was no longer a candidate in the upcoming elections for the Brussels Parliament. However, she had doubts about standing in the municipal elections. “But faith in the party is no longer there. I did not sign up for a job in politics that you could also do in a ministry.”
Zamouri also has no plans to join Viva Palestina. This is not the first time that Zamouri has signed Abou Jahjah, in 2019 she also gave her approval to the author-activist for the establishment of the Be.One party. She did this with the party’s permission, according to Zamouri himself. “No rooster crowed about that at the time.”
Long track record
Zamouri has a long track record with the Flemish liberals. She worked for a long time in various cabinets of Brussels Open VLD ministers, including Guy Vanhengel. She has been a member of the Flemish parliament since 2011. Since 2014, she has been a member of parliament in the Brussels parliament and active in the Council of the Flemish Community Commission (VGC).
Zamouri was also a household name in local Brussels politics. First as a municipal councilor in Koekelberg and from 2018 to 2020 as alderman for Social Cohesion, Youth, Dutch-speaking Culture and Childcare and Cleanliness in the municipality of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. In addition, until recently, Zamouri was also chairwoman of Vvvuur, the Flemish umbrella organization of local socio-cultural liberal associations.
Tags: Brussels Member Parliament Khadija Zamouri resigns Open VLD disciplinary proceedings collateral damage Brussels
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