The republican party says that the monies that King Albert’s youngest legitimate children, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent, receive from the public purse should be cut by twenty percent a year so that within five years nothing will be left.
In future the N-VA only wants the head of state and his or her surviving partner to receive a grant from the civil list. This grant should not exceed the before tax wages of the prime minister. The heir to the throne should not get more than a government minister.
Opposition lawmaker Theo Francken recognised the efforts made by the federal government aimed at reforming the civil list system, but insisted a long road still lay ahead: “The king being the head of the armed forces is an outdated concept. Belgium operates within the NATO framework, while we are still in a feudal regime in which the Duke of Brabant grants mercy to thieves and rapists. It’s like a strip cartoon.”
The N-VA is proposing setting up a parliamentary working party that can prepare constitutional reform of the monarchy.
In a separate development the N-VA has poured cold water on the idea launched by the Flemish Prime Minister Kris Peeters for the Flemish leader to have a weekly meeting with the new king of the Belgians. N-VA is on the opposition benches in the federal parliament, but forms part of the Flemish coalition government.
[Flandersnews.be / Expatica]