The 3M PFAS Flemish Parliamentary Commission is narrowing down the bench of the accused. We had 5 parties left:
- CEO of the Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM)- Henny De Baets,
- Ex-Minister of Environment – Joke Schauvliege (CD&V)
- Ex-Minister of Mobility – Ben Weyts (NVA)
- Source of the Pollution – 3M
- Public Construction Company – Lantis
Short Summary of the 3M PFAS scandal
The Flemish region decided to start huge construction works for mobility purposes (Oosterweel Traject). High concentration of PFAS were discovered during the excavation works. It becomes a public issue. Then, we discovered that the problem had been known and hidden for some time, secret deals had been signed and some “fiddling” took place.
Read more: 3M PFAS Pollution Scandal in Belgium
What we know
The politicians tried to blame Ovam (public officials). However, Ovam claimed their innocence.
Ovam sent a report to Lantis to highlight the danger of the PFAS pollution; In short the report said…. there’s a danger but it’s not acute, we need to make additional measurements.
Lantis sent a report to the Political Steering Committee (Flemish Ministers and the Governor of Antwerpen) based on the Ovam report but they changed the phrasing to … the pollution doesn’t represent a danger.
Ovam has never received a copy of that report; in fact they didn’t know of its existence until the current parliamentary committee. Who’s responsibility was it to send it over to Ovam? I would say the Minister of Environment.
Lantis signed a secret deal with 3M (Read more Belgium PFAS Fiasco Act 2)
In addition, Ovam didn’t take additional soil measurement because a Minister told them not to….. This one is a heavy one
I think Ovam has a point here and has waived their responsibility.
So, 4 more left on the bench of the accused:
- Ex-Minister of Environment – Joke Schauvliege (CD&V)
- Ex-Minister of Mobility – Ben Weyts (NVA)
- Source of the Pollution – 3M
- Public Construction Company – Lantis
NVA Governance
I was a bit slow to understand why many blamed the NVA political party in this dossier.
Ben Weyts, Bart de Wever (Governor of Antwerpen), Zuhal Demir are all NVA politicians and Lantis is NVA colored.
Current Minister Zuhal Demir may have tried to push the responsibility on Ovam to protect her NVA colleagues.
Conclusion
People expect a scape goat and public execution.
The politicians tried to blame Ovam; it almost looked like the assassination attempt on Julius Caesar, but the Ovam Lady survived.
Politicians in Belgium always get away with everything.
Lantis … well in Belgium the construction sector is extremely corrupt …. so probably there’s a lot of money that circulates from Lantis to the pockets of powerful and well connected people… so they’re gonna get away with it too
So eventually, they will push everything on the back of 3M.
3M will have two options … swallow the bill …. or why not go to the courts …. because enough evidence has been brought to the daylight during the parliamentary commission to accuse Schauvliege, Weyts and Lantis…. and maybe even Bart de Wever
However, US 3M HQ should be careful not to be betrayed by the Belgian 3M senior management …. you know the “Flemish” connections…. ons kent ons.
So, 3M should replace all the top people at the Belgian 3M plant with non Flemish people and send a team over … that means at least 10 Americans who will have to come and live in Belgium for at least two years. And Americans don’t speak Flemish so they’ll need translators too.
Good luck with that!