Flemish majority and opposition want asbestos producers to pay more for clearance
© ANP / Laurens van Putten
The Flemish majority and opposition want to continue to persuade former asbestos producers to contribute more financially. This is apparent from a resolution that was unanimously approved on Wednesday in the Flemish Parliament.
Source: Belga
Yesterday at 7:01 PM
Last week a hearing was held in parliament with the asbestos producers, where Eternit acted very defensively. The company rejected a possible decree obligation for asbestos producers as « disproportionate » and « possibly discriminatory ». The fact that the company seemed to put part of the responsibility even with the end users of asbestos -containing products encountered a lot of incomprehension among the members of the Environment Committee.
In a resolution, N-VA, Vooruit, CD&V, Open VLD and Groen now ask to seek legal advice about the possibility of a decree. They demand that the companies involved contribute to cleaning up the toxic substance. According to an estimate of waste company OVAM, it would cost 100 million euros every year every year to remove Eternit’s asbestos in Flanders alone.
Last year, the minister Eternit and her directors already faulted to demand through that way to cross the bridge with more resources.
Furthermore, the resolution asks the government to strengthen and accelerate asbestos development policy. OVAM is charged with a substantive analysis and evaluation of current policy.
