2023-11-16 12:00:00
Will Minister Tellier therefore lie during her hearing at the Parliament of Wallonia on Tuesday, during which she claimed not to have “receipt of information of imminent threat to health” ? “I don’t like to use the term ‘lie’ because it is very meaningful“, indicates Jean-Luc Crucke. “I believe that not everything was said in committee and it will surely have to be heard again in what I think will be, at a minimum, a special committee.“
For Jean-Luc Crucke, the minister did not take her responsibilities: “The responsibility of a minister is both to communicate properly and sustainably, but it is also to make decisions. Now, clearly, this was not done, neither sufficiently nor with useful follow-up.“
We have the impression that there was a cover-up. Oral communication is not usual. We don’t work like that in governments.
Tuesday, in committee, Jean-Luc Crucke spoke of “oral exchanges” during a government. In the summer of 2021, Minister Tellier explained that she became aware of suspicions of PFAS contamination in Chièvres. An oral communication which provided “a weird feeling” to the old MR:
“It’s very rare to have what we call ‘oral communication‘ to the government. To understand how a government works, it is a point that is written in advance, with a file that is submitted, intercabinets that meet, we exchange documents, we discuss and then we come up with a proposal. In this case, that was not the case. At the last minute, there was a communication and this communication talked about ‘suspicion’. This means that afterwards the minister had to examine her file and launch a request for information. We have the impression that there was a cover-up. Oral communication is not usual. We don’t work like that in governments.“
According to the elected official from Frasnes-lez-Anvaing, not far from the municipalities affected by PFAS pollution, Belgium is facing a major environmental scandal. With his group Les Engagés, he is therefore asking for a special commission at the level of the country, and not only on these local issues: “We need to know the extent of it. I find it hard to think that it will just be limited to Hainaut. There are not only PFAS in Hainaut. We know that there are some in Flanders too.“
If the Walloon Water Company (SWDE) was aware, the cabinet probably was, according to Crucke
New revelations unveiled this Wednesday by RTBF show that the Société Aallonne des Eaux (SWDE) was aware of risky PFAS contamination in drinking water in Wallonia. Information that “undoubtedly also existed at the administrative level“for Jean-Luc Crucke, who asks for clarity:”This is why it would be interesting to have exchanges of letters, including ‘green notes’ between the water services, between the Walloon administration and the minister. How did all this happen? When we have all the documents, we will be able to take a position“.
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