Belgium’s Security and Home Affairs Minister Bernard Quintin wants to put soldiers on Brussels’ streets to fight escalating drug violence, a plan that is nearing realization.
“The army has to defend the integrity of the territory. Usually, soldiers do this at our borders or far beyond them. But the war against drug crime also falls under the protection of our territory,” Quintin told De Standaard in an interview published Saturday.
The Belgian capital has been plagued by a spate of drug-related shootings. Last month, Brussels prosecutor Julien Moinil decried the escalating violence, counting 57 shootings this year, 20 of which happened over the summer.
The prosecutor — under police protection following threats from traffickers — had previously asked for €10 million to improve safety in Brussels, but said that authorities weren’t giving him the resources he needs. He warned that innocent citizens risk being pulled into the spiraling violence: “Anyone in Brussels could be hit by a stray bullet.”
In the run-up to budget negotiations, Belgium’s Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden is asking for an additional €1 billion for her department.
Quintin, a Brussels local, has branded the security situation of his hometown “catastrophic,” slamming traffickers’ brazen attitude in the city in an interview with POLITICO in May.
“I’m exaggerating, of course, but currently we’re almost in a situation where a guy comes in, unfolds his little chair, and sets up his little table and his parasol,” he said then.
Under the new plan, Quintin told De Standaard, soldiers would operate in mixed teams, patrolling together with police. Their operations would be focused around metro stations and certain districts, such as Peterbos in the Anderlecht commune in the southwest of Brussels.
The political decision to deploy soldiers has already been taken, but the details still have to be ironed out, Quintin said. He is pushing for implementation “as soon as possible.”
The legal framework to put soldiers on the streets is ready and the draft will soon be sent to the Council of Ministers, Defense Minister Theo Francken confirmed Saturday on X. “Our capital, Brussels, is a disaster in terms of security. We need to take back control,” Francken wrote.
Their plan has already raised questions: “Could we perhaps start with the €10 million Julien Moinil (Brussels prosecutor) requested to address the insecurity in our capital? No legal framework is needed for that,” commented Frédéric De Gucht, who represents the Flemish liberal Open VLD party in Brussels.
Quintin’s proposal is part of a broader “large cities” plan, which also includes increased camera surveillance among other measures. Besides the Brussels region, that plan also comprises the cities of Antwerp, Ghent, Liège, Charleroi and Mons.
Authorities’ attempts to clamp down on drug crime in Brussels come against a backdrop of prolonged political paralysis in the capital, as the Brussels region has so far failed to establish a government following elections in June 2024.
David Leisterh, the Brussels leader of Quintin’s French-speaking liberal MR party, told La Libre on Saturday that it could become necessary to organize new elections. The national leader of his party, Georges-Louis Bouchez, repeated Friday night that Brussels will “inevitably” be placed under control of the national government.
