Chris Vanhee has been working for three years as a Mobility and Road Safety adviser in the cabinet of Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld). But that is not his only job, according to research by VTM News. Vanhee is also the manager of Promove, a company that offers driving skills training. For example, you can follow skid courses at Promove, but you can also visit for the recently mandatory return moment, six to nine months after obtaining a definitive driving license B. This was introduced to reduce the number of traffic accidents among young drivers.
Like other companies that offer such courses, Promove receives subsidies from the Flemish government. Last year he and his company received 160,500 euros. The subsidies that his company receives therefore come from the department of which he is a part.
“Blurring of standards may be too strong a word, but it does show that there is a problem with the administrative culture within the cabinets, which are supposed to serve the general interest,” says Professor of Public Administration Bram Verschuere (Ghent University) to VTM. “Feel free to ask any questions.”
It is also contrary to the deontological code of the Flemish government, which prescribes that ‘no paid advice may be provided outside the performance of your position in files in which you yourself may be professionally involved.’
Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) herself sees no problem with it. “The advisor himself may not participate in political discussions about the return moments,” she says. Also according to Vanhee, who considers Promove his ‘life’s work’, believes that this role has no influence on his work at the cabinet. “I am convinced, and I say this in good conscience, that I do this in a very neutral way.”
