Ecolo reacts to the words of Théo Francken on the strategic stock of masks: “This is totally false!”

The words of Theo Francken, member of the government at the time when the strategic stock of masks was destroyed, made the federal deputy Ecolo Laurence Hennuy jump.

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Asked in our columns, Théo Francken claims to ignore everything about the destruction of strategic mask stocks. “I don’t understand anything about this story. I never heard of it. We had the same debate over the stock of iodine pills in the event of a nuclear accident. The stock was expired and, with Jan Jambon, then Minister of the Interior, we decided to rebuild it; it also cost millions of euros, but we did it. Proof that this is not a budgetary problem, “said the politician.

Wrong words according to federal MP Ecolo Laurence Hennuy. “This is totally wrong! “, She maintains. “Belgium has had a pandemic plan since July 2006. Following the outbreaks of avian flu, the Government has set up an interministerial Influenza police station which has developed a Belgian plan in the event of a pandemic”. The member said that the plan is clear and that it was assessed in 2009, during the H1N1 pandemic.

“Since the Michel government, the pandemic plan has been forgotten: it has not been updated, the protective equipment has been destroyed and has not been renewed. There were 40 million surgical masks and 5 million FFP2 masks! We cannot let it be said that there was no plan, that is wrong. What is true, however, is that the Michel government, of which the N-VA was a member, did not seem to deem it useful to ensure the proper management of this material. They also did not see fit to allocate a budget to finance health care. Nor has Madame De Block seen fit to invest in an operational and efficient public health administration, nor to resume this pandemic plan from the beginning of January 2020 “, continues Laurence Hennuy.

“Environmentalists are therefore also very surprised to read that the former Secretary of State seems to be” falling from the clouds “while we are today faced with the results of political choices made by the government of which the N-VA was a part .

For Ecolo, there will be a time to establish responsibilities within the framework of a commission of inquiry. For the time being, it is a question of responding to emergencies, to the crisis and to remedy the shortcomings of the past, in particular for all the front line teams, exhausted from fighting every day against the Covid19, exhausted from struggling to find masks and basic equipment to protect themselves. Environmentalists also recall the need to prioritize, both in the management of the crisis and for future deconfinement phases, people and their health before any other economic consideration.

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