Police rapped over Parliament security

Date: 13/06/02

By Martin Banks

THE Belgian police are under fire for allegedly failing to provide adequate cover outside the European Parliament in Brussels.

Parliament's president, Pat Cox, says he will now 'insist' that Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt 'at last' takes security of the assembly seriously.

The get-tough approach follows a recent assault outside the Parliament on German MEP Christa Klass and her assistant, Astrid Kranz.

The attack, on 28 May, in which the pair were mugged by a five-strong gang, was the latest in a spate of similar incidents.

An inquiry by the Parliament's bureau, consisting of Cox and 14 vice-presidents, rejected claims by Klass that Group 4, the company responsible for security on Parliament's premises, had failed to respond properly to the attack on her.

A statement issued by Cox's cabinet on behalf of the bureau concluded that Group 4 and Parliament's security service 'had acted properly under their respective responsibilities' in dealing with the incident.

Instead, the bureau blames the Belgian police for allegedly failing to provide sufficient cover outside the assembly.

The statement continues: 'Action is urgently required by the Belgian authorities to fill the legal vacuum relating to responsibility for maintaining security and law and order in the streets surrounding the Parliament's buildings.'

It adds: 'In particular, President Cox will insist with Prime Minister Verhofstadt that the Belgian government at last decides to take responsibility for protecting Parliament's buildings in Brussels.'

Specifically, Cox wants Verhofstadt to:

• Close Rue Wiertz (the road outside the chamber);
• Guarantee a permanent police presence and effective maintenance of law and order in the streets around Parliament's buildings, and;
• Establish a security perimeter around the buildings.

Parliament's spokesman David Harley said: 'The police had been in Rue Wiertz up to an hour before the attack on Mrs Klass, but their patrols in the area have become very spasmodic. They just seem to come and go and, clearly, this is not satisfactory. People often find it amazing that the French police operation at the European Parliament in Strasbourg is much better organised than that undertaken by the Belgians in Brussels.

'The bureau will be writing to Verhofstadt making it clear to him that the Belgian authorities have an important job to do.'

Klass was unavailable for comment this week but her assistant said they disagreed with the bureau's conclusions.

Kranz, 41, who only returned to work this week after the attack, said: 'The fact is that the security staff didn't react as they should have done.'

The Belgian police are under fire for allegedly failing to provide adequate cover outside the European Parliament in Brussels.