As of next week, MPs will no longer be able to order beer or wine in the cafeteria of the federal parliament. The ban comes two years after the Flemish parliament abolished alcohol.
Home News
Alcohol ban in federal parliament comes into force
Published:
“I’m treading on thin ice, but I’m calling for alcohol to be banned in the cafeteria. It is really no longer appropriate in this day and age,” prime minister Bart De Wever said during the 40-hour debate on the coalition agreement in early February.
De Wever cannot make decisions about the functioning of parliament, but his call is now being heeded. The formal decision will be made next week in the Chamber Bureau, and coalition parties have indicated that the ban will be implemented. Thursday is the last plenary session in the Chamber where alcohol will be served in the bar.
The call was met with applause in the Chamber, but not everyone is in favour. Last week, N-VA MP Maaike De Vreese argued in the Krant van West-Vlaanderen in favour of keeping alcohol. She says alcohol is only drunk in the evening after a long session.
“Why shouldn’t you be allowed to drink a glass of beer or wine? There are people who have a drink after work. It’s part of our culture. If you stopped serving alcohol, there’s a good chance the political groups would all go to different bars, and you’d no longer have any exchange between parties.”
Why shouldn’t you be allowed to drink a glass of beer or wine? There are people who have a drink after work. It’s part of our culture
Serving alcohol in the bar is a relatively recent phenomenon in the long history of parliament. Herman De Croo of Open VLD put beer and wine on the menu as Speaker of the House in the late 1990s, as he felt MPs were spending too much time in nearby cafés while waiting to vote.
The Flemish parliament abolished alcohol two years ago. The discussion also arose in the federal parliament, but no ban was imposed at the time.