After it was announced that a Port of Antwerp employee was also seconded to Jambon firm, a select committee of ministers discussed the issue of the relationship between Bpost and the Federal Government on Friday.
Public Enterprises Minister Petra De Sutter (Flemish Greens) received the support of her colleagues to take steps to "clarify once again" this relationship, according to her office.
From now on, there will be "more control and expertise within the authorities". De Sutter's office explained that the administration should be more flexible in terms of expertise. In other words, as far as postal issues are concerned, there should be experts from the administration (and not people seconded from Bpost to the cabinet) monitoring it.
In the House Committee this week, Petra De Sutter noted that when her cabinet was set up, there were no postal experts in the administration, which was a "problem". She recently received fierce criticism when the media revealed that two people employed by Bpost had been seconded to her cabinet while continuing to be paid by the postal company.
The Minister's office said on Friday that it was working on a proposal for new rules on secondments. "If the government agrees, people from public companies listed on the stock exchange will no longer be able to be seconded to ministerial offices. There is too much risk of tensions in terms of interests."
