"Dehaene was careless"

28 August 2007

BRUSSELS – Former prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene is angry that a photographer managed to snap a shot of a confidential memo as the politician headed for a meeting with the king.

But Pol Deltour of the trade union for journalists says that it is Dehaene’s own fault. “In the end he is a public figure and was out in public,” says Deltour.

“Dehaene knew fine well there would be photographers and that he would be photographed.”

“Dehaene may have showed a lack of conscientiousness in his duty. He should have hidden that document better.”

The photographer had managed to get a photo of the memo on Dehaene’s lap as he drove to a meeting with the king.

The memo stated that the state reform issue should best be left out of the government formation process and that the matter of voting districts in Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde should be addressed in the coalition agreement.

Dehaene also had questions about how the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) fit in with the larger picture.

The former prime minister has since said that the document was personal and did not reflect the standpoint of his party, the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V).

Subject: Belgian news

“Dehaene was careless”