Travelers must be checked sufficiently before boarding the plane, and if they do not do this, strict action must be taken against this. That is what Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) said on Sunday in VTM News. Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) shares that opinion, and advises people who are not fully vaccinated not to travel to Spain or Portugal.
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Last week there was a fuss about hundreds of young people who were on holiday in Spain with travel organizations Summer Bash and Youth Travel and had to return home early after a large-scale corona outbreak. This happened with buses put in by the organizations, but on Friday it also turned out that at least twenty of those young people – several of whom had tested positive – have returned by plane without informing Youth Travel.
There was a lot of criticism, because in that way they endanger the other passengers on the plane. Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden gave in on Sunday afternoon VTM News to know that she will no longer tolerate anyone boarding the plane without a negative test, proof of immunity, or vaccination certificate.
Better check
“We need to monitor the control better,” said Verlinden. “It is the responsibility of the airlines to ensure that everyone who comes back to Belgium by plane has been tested or vaccinated, so we must also hold the airlines accountable for their responsibility.” According to the minister, fines should be handed out for this. “They have to follow the rules. We have explicitly foreseen that it is their responsibility to carry out those checks, in the interest of the health of everyone who takes the plane.”
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She is joined in this by Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit), Minister of Health. He also said in VTM News that more attention should be paid to compliance with the rules regarding travel, both by car and by plane. “We cannot be strict enough for that,” Vandenbroucke said. “We can be a lot stricter in our policy with regard to our controls.” Among other things, he talks about checking cars at the border “randomly”.
In addition, he advises anyone who is not fully vaccinated to travel to red zones in Spain and Portugal. “That’s just not smart.”
Empty promises
The minister also said he did not feel like making “empty promises” in the run-up to next Friday’s Consultation Committee about the closing time in the catering industry or the reopening of nightlife from September. Vandenbroucke warned in it VTM News for the time being that only 40 percent of people are fully vaccinated.
According to the Vooruit minister, it is therefore not yet the time to “let go of all the brakes”. Vandenbroucke therefore frowns at the discussions about closing hours in the catering industry and the possible resumption of nightlife in September. According to Vandenbroucke, it is a higher priority that cafes and restaurants provide adequate ventilation and install the mandatory CO2 meters.
No Dutch situations
The Vooruit minister has little interest in Dutch situations. There, the Rutte government must reverse a series of relaxations. “We have learned from the Dutch experience that it is best not to give empty perspectives. I absolutely don’t feel like a yo-yo policy like in the Netherlands,” said Vandenbroucke.
According to Vandenbroucke, with the Covid certificate it should be possible to organize events in a safe way soon. That certificate should also help with the organization of mass events such as Pukkelpop. According to Vandenbroucke, that festival can take place on condition that the organization complies with the agreements made in the field of testing and checks.
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