Faced with the revelations of the cost of the furniture chosen for Wallonia’s House of Parliamentarians, the Workers’ Party of Belgium, PTB, is calling for a meeting of the regional parliament’s Accounting Committee.
“€18,000 for a sofa, €4,750 for a chair and marble galore, from a lamp base for €2,400 to tables at €2,600 each in the speaker’s office. This is shocking and indecent,” the PTB’s leader in the regional parliament, Germain Mugemangango, commented.
“It only confirms the fact that the explosion of the price of this House of Parliamentarians is not due to external causes, but to conscious choices of the traditional parties, guided by their taste for privilege and luxury,” the PTB leader said in a statement.
He also deplored the lack of transparency in the matter. “Several months ago, we drafted a list of questions for the former president of the Walloon parliament, Jean-Claude Marcourt, in order to obtain all the details on the costs that led to the explosion of the assembly’s expenses,” Mugemangango said. “We still have had no answers.”
The PTB will therefore renew its request to the bureau of Parliament. It is also demanding that the convening of a new accounting committee.
“We want a clear answer to our questions: why did you choose the most expensive option for the furniture?” the PTB group leader said.
“And what is the speaker of parliament, André Frédéric, waiting for to publish the complete accounts concerning the House of Parliamentarians?” he wondered.
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