Belgium’s politicians still too shady

9 April 2004

BRUSSELS – Belgium’s politicians are still failing to declare their earnings and non-political interests nearly ten years after laws were passed obliging them to do just that, one of the country’s political parties has complained.

Members of the pro-environment party Ecolo are angry that most Belgian politicians still refuse to declare interests that could impact on their elected responsibilities. Such interests could include investments in property or payments from the private sector, for example.

In 1995 a law was passed obliging all public figures to declare tier interests but so far no rules have been agreed about how the legislation should work in practice.

“Ten years on we have got nowhere,” said Ecolo parliamentarians Marie Nagy and Marcle Cheron, both quoted in Le Soir newspaper.

Last year the Belgian Parliament was set to approve the necessary rules that would have seen the 1995 law enter into force, but a last-minute roll call before the crucial vote revealed there were not enough parliamentarians present to adopt the text.

“We saw members of parliament slipping out into the corridors at the moment the vote was supposed to be taken,” said Cheron.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Belgian news