His blunt intervention comes the day after another Antwerp judge published an anonymous letter decrying that Belgium was on the verge of becoming a “narco-state.”
De Wever, prime minister since February this year, spent more than a decade as mayor of Antwerp demanding more federal money to address narcotics-related issues, but Willocx notes action hasn’t been forthcoming since he ascended to the Belgian premiership.
“He was the mayor and now he is the prime minister. I’m sure that safety and security and these kind of things are very important to him, but we ask his government to invest more, to stop this,” said Willocx.
“As a mayor he said we need money from the federal government, but now he is the prime minister … We are waiting and he refers to the minister of justice, and the minister of justice refers to the government, but we are waiting for more support,” he added, exasperatedly. De Wever’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the judge’s criticism.
The massive Port of Antwerp acts as a gateway for illegal narcotics — particularly cocaine coming from Latin America — to enter Europe, and turf wars have spilled onto streets across Belgium, with shootings and bombings taking place both in Antwerp and Brussels.
Complicating the quest to solve the problem, De Wever is embroiled in tense negotiations with coalition partners to hammer out a new budget to balance Belgium’s strained finances.