The Flemish liberals make no secret of the fact that they do not agree with the conditions that Flemish Minister of the Environment Zuhal Demir (N-VA) imposes on Brussels Airport in its environmental permit. “How high is Flemish prosperity actually still on the N-VA agenda?”
The new permit guarantees that the airport’s activities can be continued in the coming years. However, it also contains strict additional operating conditions, which make further development of the airport after 2032 uncertain, Brussels Airport reported on Friday after the new environmental permit was announced. “Zaventem is the largest economic center in our country after the port of Antwerp. It is incomprehensible that the minister is endangering this,” Open VLD chairman Tom Ongena responded to X on Friday.
The airport’s response sheds a different light on Demir’s permit, says Ongena. “No chance of growth, but fear of a decline in the airport’s activities. We ask for quick and complete clarity about this.” Gwendolyn Rutten, Flemish Minister of the Interior, also expressed her dissatisfaction with X. “An end point to growth – or will the result be economic decline? We should know that clearly for the country’s 2nd economic engine,” she wrote.
But Prime Minister Alexander De Croo may react even more strongly to the news. “After the haggling with Ineos in the port of Antwerp, the N-VA is once again bringing uncertainty to a crucial gateway of our economy,” De Croo told De Tijd. “It is vital that Zaventem Airport can continue to grow, not only for the international connectivity of an export-oriented economy like Belgium, but also for the expansion plans of Brussels Airlines. Thousands of jobs are at stake here. How high is Flemish prosperity actually still on the N-VA agenda?”
The ceiling on the number of flight movements imposed on Brussels Airport in the new permit is particularly dissatisfying among the liberals. By 2032, the target is a maximum of 240,000 flights. “It is very unclear what the impact of this will be,” says De Croo. “Such a ceiling limits the growth of the airport. It makes much more sense to work with noise standards that force airlines to use low-noise aircraft.”
“Election instrument”
“VLD sees the permit as an election instrument,” Demir responds. “I see it as a guarantee of a balance between economic ambition and quality of life. The statements of the VLD chairman are like most statements of a VLD chairman. If the VLD wants to give the airport a future, it should do its own homework and finally ensure a federal flying law with an equitable distribution of the nuisance,” she says.
“Words are easy, but the VLD never takes action. It is a minister from the De Croo government who asked for a ban on night flights, right? We didn’t go that far.”