Brussels Finance Minister Sven Gatz (Open VLD) wants to evoke a possible appeal from his Environment colleague Alain Maron (Ecolo) at the next Brussels Council of Ministers. He wrote this in a letter to Prime Minister Rudi Vervoort (PS), which Belga was able to view. As expected, Maron does not share Gatz’s legal analysis.
The Brussels government’s appeal against Brussels Airport’s new environmental permit was on the agenda at Thursday’s Brussels Council of Ministers. However, the point was not approved because Minister Gatz was obstructive. Alain Maron then announced that he himself is appealing against the environmental permit that Flanders has granted to the airport in Zaventem.
No delegation possible
But according to Sven Gatz he cannot. “Given the delegation rules of the Brussels government, this is not possible as the Brussels government can allow delegation to competent ministers, but with the clear exception of decisions on such appeals,” he writes in his letter to Vervoort.
“I therefore wish to evoke this possible decision by my colleague on the next government,” continues the Open VLD minister, who cites three reasons for his decision:
- Alain Maron’s appeal is “legally defective”,
- it is not politically covered by the entire government that decides by consensus,
- it undermines the credibility of the Brussels government because every minister must “legally and deontologically comply with the rules and the law”.
In a response to Belga, Minister Maron stated that he does not share the legal analysis of his colleague Gatz. He will discuss the note that Gatz will submit with the lawyers who have been assisting him for years in legal issues regarding the flights above Brussels, he said through his spokesperson.
The Ecolo Minster regrets that Open VLD is seeking all means in the government to weaken the protection of sleep and health of Brussels residents by deviating from the Brussels consensus that has long prevailed on this issue.
Alain Maron points out that the demands that the Brussels government has repeatedly endorsed regarding his proposal also have a very broad consensus and that the 19 municipalities have unanimously asked the government to file an appeal. Minister Maron believes that these requests must be met.
Sven Gatz previously pointed out that the permit, which came after a long process, is more balanced and better than the current permits. “Something is being done about noise pollution, whereby the Brussels noise standards must of course be respected, and about environmental pollution,” said the Open VLD minister.
In addition, he also had to take into account the economic impact of the airport for the Brussels Region and the entire metropolitan region, which is very large. And Gatz noted that there are increasingly many low-skilled people working in and around Brussels Airport.
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Tags: Gatz evoke Marons appeal Brussels Airport permit Brussels government
