The Interior Minister, Annelies Verlinden, has proposed making event organizers pay for police deployment at certain cultural and sporting events, which has sparked a reaction from the events sector. This proposal would pose a significant financial burden for some event organizers, especially those hosting events in the evenings or on weekends, such as football matches, which would cost approximately €11 million per year. Verlinden believes that organizers should contribute financially to the police deployment as major events can benefit the economy, but there has been resistance from some festival organizers, who already pay for security. The measure was previously suggested in 2012 but was abandoned due to widespread criticism. At present, the Pro League and the clubs contacted have not responded to the proposal.
Making the police pay for certain sporting and cultural events is the will of the Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden and it is a proposal that makes the events sector react. For some event organizers, this possibility is simply unthinkable.
Deploying the police for major events has a price, especially in the evening or at weekends, especially for football matches in our championship, which would cost around 11 million euros per year. In an interview in Knack magazine, Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden expressed her desire for change. “Major events are beneficial for our economy but when I see all the other missions of the police and its limited means; I see that we have to dare to make the police pay”, she told our colleagues. Annelies Verlinden would therefore like the organizers of the events to contribute financially to the deployment of the police.
For the moment, the Pro League and the clubs contacted do not wish to react. Some festival organizers, on the other hand, oppose the measure. They too should partly pay for the deployment of the police.
It is difficult to understand the meaning of this measure
For Samuel Chappel, the director of the LaSemo and Namur festivals in May is irrelevant, especially since the organizers are already paying for security. “We have been in place for years, with terrorism, we have considerably reinforced the private security systems on the festival site and around the festival”he explains at the microphone of Bel RTL. “The police are a public service, a public space security service, so we don’t really understand the sense that the festival would have to intervene financially in this, otherwise what are the limits? Who will have to pay the police who is a public service? It’s hard for us to understand the meaning behind it.”
Especially since certain cultural events do not necessarily have great resources, such as the Wallonia festivals for example, which are free festivities. Eric Adam, the president of the central committee of Wallonia which organizes the festivals of Wallonia is worried. “You can put the key directly under the doormat…”he laments. “Now I hope there will be nuances in his project, we are not football clubs like Bruges and Antwerp with budgets over 100 million, we have small subsidies, we are popular parties, it will be necessary to make the difference.
Measure already mentioned
But let Erci Adam be reassured: for the moment, nothing concrete has yet been decided. The proposal is not recent, it had already been mentioned in 2012 but had been abandoned due to numerous criticisms.
As the debate over whether event organizers should pay for police deployment rages on in Belgium, it remains to be seen whether the proposal by Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden will become a reality. While it may be a viable solution to help ease the financial burden on law enforcement, some event organizers are understandably opposed to the measure. The issue raises many questions regarding the limits of responsibility and the role of the police in ensuring public safety. As the conversation continues, it is clear that this is a complex issue that requires careful consideration and a balanced approach.