Brussels –
The Brussels Region will buy agricultural land in Walloon and Flemish Brabant “in the coming months and years” to preserve biodiversity and promote local agriculture to feed part of the Brussels population. Brussels environment minister Alain Maron (Ecolo) has announced this. Brussels MR party leader Alexia Bertrand and Flemish-Brabant N-VA Member of Parliament Theo Francken immediately responded sharply.
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“The Region will make these agricultural land available to farmers in order to encourage the short chain. The talks are ongoing, ”said the minister, who gave no further details, in particular about the resources he wants to allocate for this.
N-VA Member of Parliament and Flemish Brabanter Theo Francken reacted sharply on Twitter: “But anyway, can those Greens really not do a normal day ?! Introduce road tolls and buy up our scarce farmland in Brabant. In which century do these green birds actually live? ”
Cieltje Van Achter, N-VA group leader in the Brussels Parliament was also indignant. “Purple-green in action: we buy agricultural land to feed the inhabitants of Brussels. Crazy idea, even if Brussels had too much money. The reality is that the Brussels budget is structurally in the red and we are still waiting for a proper recovery plan. #sigh ”, it sounded on social media.
Fired
The proposal was also immediately rejected by Alexia Bertrand, the MR group leader in the Brussels Parliament. “So the Brussels Region is going to buy land in Walloon and Flemish Brabant to feed the inhabitants of Brussels? Are we switching to a planned economy? In the current situation, that is not the role of the state. The Region must first manage the few resources it has to meet its basic obligations (work, infrastructure), ”she wrote on Twitter.
Walloon Minister of Agriculture Willy Borsus (MR) also reacted surprised to the announcement. “I have been amazed at Alain Maron’s statements,” he said. “Agricultural land is extremely expensive and access to it is complicated in Wallonia. The fact that a Region announces that it has a purchasing policy will increase the pressure for livestock farmers and farmers and horticulturists ”, says Willy Borsus who denounces the“ total lack of consultation between the Brussels Region and the Walloon Region ”. That is also the case for the case of the Brussels city toll, he adds.
Borsus also states that he is prepared to work on the short chain, food zones around the big cities or bringing producers and consumers closer together. But this must be done in a serious way, in consultation with the sectors concerned and not at the expense of companies that develop relevant initiatives.
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