In an interview with the magazine Knack, the Minister explains that the desire to build new reception centers for refugees puts the Region under tension, as it has very few free spaces.
“Our available land and our rules are everywhere under pressure: whether it is for the reception of refugees, whether it is to cope with the growth of the population, or whether it is for breeding. a bit bizarre comparison, but we can’t keep millions of pigs here either. I can’t create additional land like that. We can’t do everything in Flanders”.
This evocation of refugees and pigs in the same reasoning aroused indignation in part of the Flemish political class.
“Regugnant”, notably reacted the co-president of Groen, Jeremie Vaneeckhout. “Linking migration to the lack of spaces in Flanders is really inexcusable and has never been demonstrated. Trying to hide the government’s inaction in the face of the concretization of Flanders by using refugees is unheard of” , he commented.
The Marxist opposition also deemed these remarks “disgusting”. “(What Zuhal Demir does is) always turn people once morest each other even more, even when it comes to refugees sleeping outside in the cold. It’s no wonder nationalists It is a conscious strategy”, reacted for his part the leader of the PVDA group in the Flemish Parliament, Jos D’Haese.
CD&V president Sammy Mahdi also slammed the comments, calling them “rancid”.
“Yes, we must react forcefully to the irregular influx of economic migrants. Yes, we must reserve our reception places for those who need protection. But should we compare them to pigs? It’s not weird, but rather rancid,” commented the former Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration.
Faced with these indignant reactions, Minister Demir defended herself on Twitter.
“I have never compared refugees to pigs,” she assured, throwing the ball back to Groen and the CD&V, both members of the federal government.
“If you want to maintain the illusion that we can cope with endless streams of refugees at home, then explain to us why so many people, even children, have to spend the night outside,” she said. -offensive.
