Like Germany, Belgium should become an observer at the first meeting of the countries subscribing to the UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons, according to a proposal from the Flemish socialist Vooruit party.
Federal MP for Vooruit Vicky Reynaert asked Belgium's Federal Government to take this step in a proposal backed by the Flemish and Francophone green parties, Groen and Ecolo.
"We must continue to talk about the desirability of nuclear weapons in our world, now more than ever," said Reynaert. "Today we see [Russian President Vladimir] Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons in his war with Ukraine. Tomorrow, it could be someone else."
A political and diplomatic international strategy for arms control and nuclear arms reduction "must be developed," she said. "Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that these kinds of weapons will never and can never be used."
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted by 122 countries within the UN in 2017. However, NATO countries, including Belgium, are not among them. It is even said that the fact that Belgium is storing US nuclear weapons in the Kleine Brogel airbase in Limburg is the country’s "worst-kept secret."
In June 2022, signatories of the UN treaty will meet for the first time in Vienna. In addition to those who signed the treaty, the agreement also foresees that other countries can participate in the conference – but only as observers.
As NATO member states Germany and Norway recently announced that they will assume observer status at the meeting, the Vooruit party wants Belgium to follow. "We can now see what happens if there is no permanent multilateral discussion about the nuclear warheads in this world," Reynaert said.
"Today, the presence of nuclear weapons stands in the way of a solution to the conflict in Ukraine. We must not beat about the bush on this issue," she said. "In the end, it is always the ordinary people who pay the price. If we do not keep talking about this, who will?"
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The Groen and Ecolo parties both stated that they "wholeheartedly" support the initiative, and will also put pressure on the Government to attend the UN summit, as this treaty "opens a new path" to nuclear disarmament.
"The situation in Russia shows the importance of this. The road via a classic NATO non-proliferation treaty does not work. Those negotiations are stuck. Nuclear disarmament must be higher on the political agenda," Federal MP for Groen Wouter De Vriendt told De Morgen.
He also points out that the Belgian Federal Government's coalition agreement contains a passage in which the importance of the UN treaty is mentioned.
