If the Covid Safe Ticket will be required to enter bars, restaurants and nightclubs in Brussels, the same should be true in Vilvoorde, as it is situated just on the border of the Capital Region, according to mayor Hans Bonte.
While there is little enthusiasm for the Covid Safe Ticket (CST) in Flanders and Wallonia, the system is expected to be introduced in Brussels from 1 October.
"As mayor, I myself am asking for the opportunity to respond to the demand from the hospitality and fitness businesses to apply the Covid Safe Ticket system," Bonte said on Flemish radio on Wednesday.
"There is definitely a demand. On the one hand, we still have to catch up on vaccinations, on the other hand, there are the very high infection rates, so I think there is definitely a need to be very careful," he added.
If certain fitness and hospitality businesses outside of Brussels want to apply that extra control, they should be able to so, according to Bonte
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Earlier this week, several mayors of Flemish municipalities on Brussels’s border said they were worried that people would just cross into Flanders once the Capital-Region starts requiring the pass for bars and restaurants.
A similar phenomenon was seen last year, when the closure of bars and restaurants in Brussels saw people turn to bars just outside the city in border municipalities like Vilvoorde, Wemmel and Dilbeek.
"If [the authorities] can make extra rules for Brussels, I am asking to be allowed to apply them too," Bonte said, adding that the municipality’s vaccination rate is similar to that of Brussels.
On Tuesday evening, the federal authorities agreed upon the terms of a cooperation agreement to expand the CST's use, the cabinet of Minister for Health Frank Vandenbroucke confirmed.
However, the agreement still needs to be officially adopted by the Council of Ministers and then by a Consultative Committee, which could already meet virtually today (Wednesday).
Afterwards, it still has to go to the Council of State. Once that has happened, the Brussels Parliament can discuss its expansion, and then it is up to the Brussels Government to decide in which sectors it can be used.
