“Really, the need for rebuilding society in Brussels is clear. And if we see what the citizens are asking for, it is really to clean up the streets, get the lighting back, make sure that people are living in good conditions, that we have access to jobs and that our kids are going to school again. This is about quality of life,” she said.
She argued that although Brussels is a logistical hub and has many of the problems common to big cities, the fact that it is administrated by 19 different mayors is a particularly big problem. “Nineteen authorities, 19 mayors, makes it complicated to have coordination,” she said.
Van Wymersch said she is now working on pushing the new Belgian government, which was appointed on Jan. 31 after seven months of negotiations, to implement a new asset recovery model to reinvest the money seized from criminal organizations into law enforcement.
“At the moment we don’t have a specific asset recovery system here in Belgium,” she said, adding that the money and assets seized from criminal groups is now going to the federal budget.
“We think that the money that we take, the luxury cars, everything that we are taking from the criminal world, should be reinvested in law enforcement and in rebuilding society,” she said.
