At the next Consultative Committee, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon will propose to introduce the same closing hour for the outdoor and indoor parts of the hospitality industry from 9 June.
If everything goes according to plan, bars and restaurants will be allowed to reopen their indoor areas again from 9 June, which will be allowed to stay open until 10:00 PM. At the same time, however, the closing time for the sector's terraces will be moved up to 11:30 PM.
"I will propose to the Consultative Committee to introduce the same closing time for indoor and outdoor areas of hospitality businesses," Jambon said in response to questions about the different hours in the Flemish parliament.
While he "loyally defends" the Committee's decisions, "the position of Flanders has always been to have the same closing time for indoor and outdoor areas."
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According to Jambon, this time should be "as close as possible to the time when the ban on gatherings enters into force," which will be at midnight.
"I understand that several groups are asking for this to be raised again at the next meeting," he said. "As always, I am your messenger in this: I will put it back on the agenda, because I think it is a matter of common sense."
The next Consultative Committee was initially supposed to take place this week, but it was postponed to Friday 4 June, the cabinet of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced earlier this week.
The meeting will be delayed to first allow the authorities "to take sufficient account of the impact of the European agreement on the Digital Green Certificate," as that will be the main topic on the table.
