Elections Belgium achieves stable government 650 days later
The Court of First Instance of Brussels has given the Belgian State 30 days this Wednesday to withdraw all the anti-Covid measures in force that restrict activity, employment or mobility.
The magistrates give one month to act and impose
a penalty of 5,000 euros for each day of delay.
The decision comes after a complaint filed by the League for Human Rights on behalf of all Belgians, according to local media.
"They reproach the authorities for having adopted
liberticidal measures by right undermining
" the constitutional and / or legal norms that require them to abstain or act in a certain direction, "in a quote collected by
Le Soir
.
It is a question of form and not only of substance.
The League of Rights argues that "none of the three laws invoked by the Belgian state to restrict the freedoms of Belgians serve as the underlying basis for the ministerial decree" approved.
The ministerial decree, underlined two cited lawyers,
"violates the principle of subsidiarity of criminal law
, the obligation to consult the Council of State and the principle of legal certainty."
In October 2020, after an eternity in political limbo, Belgium managed to form a government.
The new president, Alexander de Croo, immediately adopted a battery of measures infinitely harsher than his incumbent predecessors.
Bars, restaurants, leisure and sports venues have been closed since then
.
A family can only receive one person from outside the home and the outdoor social bubble is limited to four people.
There was a hint of easing a few weeks ago, but after verifying that the numbers are very worrying, the previous limits were imposed again.
Belgium has also banned non-essential travel, at a level almost unmatched in the EU and despite protests from the European institutions, which recommend to the 27 that travel "be discouraged", but not prevent.
Now, however, the legal setback is important.
The Belgian Justice considers that the State has not followed the appropriate procedures and that, therefore,
the measures are not legal and must be lifted
.
The Executive relied on a May 2017 law approved after the Ghislenghien disaster, a gas leak that caused a terrible explosion and the death of 24 people and left hundreds of injuries.
The Court of First Instance explains in the order issued this morning that this law marks "in a restrictive and predictable way the powers conferred on the executive", and that
the situation caused by Covid-19 is not covered by this legal framework
.
"The closure of establishments (cultural, festive, sports, recreational, events, catering, contact professions), the suspension of compulsory education, the limitation of public or private meetings, the limitation of movement to and from Belgium go much further of what is contemplated under the terms requirement and evacuation ", says the Court of Brussels.
The government has been fully aware since October that the legal basis for its actions was, to say the least, weak.
But that has not stopped it from moving forward while the so-called Pandemic Law is being processed, which would offer and probably will offer a now solid framework for this type of measures.
Today Parliament will debate this legislative route
.
But until he has the green light De Croo intends to continue and is expected to present an immediate appeal to stop that decision.
If something works well in Belgium, it is precisely the resources, capable of delaying a process for months or years.
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