The Belgian Army will be involved in the security of the Paris Olympic Games this summer, Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder confirmed on Tuesday.
While the number of troops sent to France has not yet been announced, the French government made the request to the Belgian authorities, with the Ministry of Defence having "studied participation and concluded that a contribution can be envisaged as part of the 2024 Operations Plan," said Ludivine Dedonder.
Belgian soldiers would be called upon to carry out missions "in the field of searching for and neutralising explosive devices", i.e. mine clearance.
"It is recognised that Belgian Defence has expertise in this field, and is regularly called upon for international interventions," according to the Defence Minister.
The Paris Olympic Games will run from 26 July to 11 August, followed by the Paralympic Games from 28 August to 8 September.
This announcement came as a surprise to majority MP Denis Ducarme (MR), who said he was surprised to see the news after his party's proposal to deploy soldiers on the streets of Belgium was rejected last week.
"This is a staggering split at a time when we are facing a level three terrorist threat and there is one gunshot after another in the streets of Brussels," he said. The Defence Minister called the liberal party's response as "disinformation".
"We are sending 3 deminers from the SEDEE (Service d'Enlèvement et de Destruction d'Engins Explosifs) and not military personnel into the streets. A unit that is already doing this work in Belgium, with 25 emergency interventions this year", Dedonder pointed out on social media.
