2023-07-14 21:20:00
The Open Vld on Friday evening rejected the project of the Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet to ban night flights at Brussels airport (Zaventem), calling it “economic absurdity”.
It was through the voice of MP Tim Vandeput, mayor of Hoeilaart (Flemish outskirts of Brussels) and responsible for the file for the parliamentary group, that the party of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reacted to the publication in the media of the minister’s plan Deputy Prime Minister Ecolo.
“Belgium is a country of international trade. Last year, exports to Flanders represented 380 billion euros, and Zaventem airport plays a crucial role there”, underlined the Flemish liberal elected, who insists on the impact on employment. He estimates at 2,500 the number of job losses in the event of a complete ban on night flights in Belgium.
Tim Vandeput argues for alternatives that he says operators are willing to consider. He calls on Minister Gilkinet to put the work back on the job to bring “constructive” proposals.
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Another Flemish party in the coalition, the CD&V, also decried the proposal by ecologist Georges Gilkinet. The president of the CD&V, Sammy Mahdi, castigates “ecological nonsense and pure and simple decrease”.
The end of night flights at the capital’s airport “would be the end of Zaventem as Europe’s largest logistics hub for medical and pharmaceutical products,” Mahdi further criticized on Twitter. “25,000 jobs in the region are not enough for environmentalists, it seems,” adds the president of the formation.
The N-VA, in opposition at the federal level, but a member of the ruling coalition in Flanders, also rejected the proposal to ban night flights.
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