A controversial remark made by Flemish Minister of the Environment, Energy, Justice and Tourism Zuhal Demir, in which she compares Flanders' perceived lack of space to receive refugees with not having the space to keep "a million pigs" either has caused outrage both online and among politicians.
In an interview about the refugee reception crisis with the weekly Knack magazine, Demir argued that Belgium simply does not have the space to handle the "problematic" influx of people at a moment when she must work on safeguarding the open space in Flanders and discouraging people from building too much.
"This will just not work. We are not Germany or Poland. Our open space and our facilities are under pressure in all areas: from reception capacity for refugees to population growth to livestock," she told the magazine. "It may be a strange comparison, but we cannot keep millions of pigs here either. I cannot just make any extra pieces of land. We cannot do everything in Flanders.”
'Not strange, just rancid'
The comparison between refugees and pigs has caused a lot of outrage on social media and has also gone down the wrong way with Sammy Mahdi, the former State Secretary for Asylum and Migration and leader of the Christian Democrat CD&V party – a coalition partner in the Flemish Government alongside Demir's rightwing N-VA.
"Yes, the irregular influx of economic migrants must be tackled strongly,” Madhi said on Twitter. "Yes, that is necessary to reserve the reception network for those who do need protection. But comparisons with pigs, is that necessary? Not 'strange', just rancid."
Mahdi's predecessor as CD&V party leader Joachim Coens called the comparison "simply disgusting," an opinion echoed by co-chair of the Flemish Green Party (Groen) Jeremie Vaneeckhout.
"Disgusting, words matter, and so does content. Linking migration to a lack of space in Flanders is very bad and is not based on fact," he said. "Trying to mask the non-policy in terms of a 'build-up stop' by pestering refugees is really unheard of."
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Vaneeckhout's co-chair Nadia Naji talks about "a new disgusting low point" for N-VA. According to Demir, however, the reactions are no more than a storm in a teacup. "At no point do I equate asylum seekers with pigs," she responded to Vaneeckhout's reaction.
"But if you want to keep up the illusion that we can handle an infinite influx of asylum seekers in our country, explain why so many people, even children, have to spend the night on the street? The absurd accusation clearly just wants to divert attention from the real problem," she said.
"The problem is that your government treats these people inhumanely. They also pay the price of this non-policy."
