Scandal of outrageous pension supplements for former Chamber Presidents
Given the refusal of former Presidents of the Chamber Siegfried Bracke (N-VA, Flemish nationalist) and Herman De Croo (Open Vld, neoliberal) to reimburse the pension supplements they have received for years, the PTB-PVDA is launching a petition « Every euro must be returned », to put pressure on them.
"Bracke and De Croo pocketed thousands of euros in monthly pension supplements for years, on top of their maximum pension of 7,813.40 euro gross per month. And this, while so many pensioners have to get by on 1200 euro or less. Not only is it disgusting, but it is also illegal, as the legal notices received show. We demand that they pay back every last euro. We want to collect lots of signatures to put pressure on the majority parties," explains Sofie Merckx, leader of the PTB-PVDA group in the Chamber.
Sofie Merckx challenges the reasoning of Siegfried Bracke: "Bracke is right that everyone knew about it among the traditional parties, but he is wrong that the system was legal. The allowance in question was indeed put in place voluntarily to circumvent the law. It is illegal. And with this, it exceeds the ceiling provided by law. The goal is to stage a cover-up. We're not going to let this go."
The petition can be signed on www.ptb.be/privileges
