The Belgian Minister of Defense, Theo Frankenhas caused a political and media stir by ironizing the heat wave that affects these days Belgium and recommend enjoying the good time con pool, beer y barbecuein a week in which the country waits temperatures record.
“Two days it’s hot and it seems like we’re all going to die again. Man, man, where do you find these journalists?” wrote the Flemish nationalist leader on his social networks. The minister also recommended enjoying the good weather and said he would send “photos later of the pool, a fresh Stella (beer) and barbecue.”
Respect for the most vulnerable
The comment, published last Friday when temperatures began to rise, has generated criticism days later, as record temperatures approach in the country and while health and meteorological authorities multiply the warnings by the extreme heat.
Several politicians, press editorials and columns in Belgian media have criticized Francken for the tone of the message, considering that it presents the heat wave as a media exaggeration and that it ignores the situation of the most vulnerable people, outdoor workers or those who do not have air-conditioninggarden or pool to protect yourself from high temperatures.
“No, Theo Francken, not everyone has an office job, air conditioning and a private pool,” wrote the philosopher Seppe De Meulderauthor of a tribune in The World Tomorrowwhile the French-speaking liberal politician Michel Henrion accused the minister of falling into “climato-skeptic populism.”
Accusations of populism
Public radio and television RTBF also wondered if the minister’s words represented a form of populism, while Le Soir Mag wrote in an editorial that Francken was “in the same line as the climate-skeptic American leader,” referring to Donald Trumpa politician for whom the Flemish nationalist showed sympathies in the past.
This Wednesday, Belgium continues to suffer the consequences of a heat wave that has already caused the cancellation of train and bus services, the suspension of classes in some educational centers and the closure of monuments such as the Atomium, among other measures.
