Legislation withdrawn after health care workers show their anger
The Belgian government is withdrawing two royal decrees that have upset Belgium’s health care workers. The secondary legislation would have allowed provincial governors to requisition health care workers and allow health care workers to perform tasks formerly only entrusted to nurses.
Royal decrees are items of secondary legislation created by the government to implement laws voted in parliament. As parliament has now granted the minority government special powers to tackle the corona crisis it was the gathering representing the federal government and the ten parties that support it from government and opposition benches that took the decision to withdraw the decrees.
At the same meeting political leaders agreed on a maximum price for corona blood tests.
Anger at the now withdraw decrees among health care workers resulted in several strike notifications in the hospital sector. Health care workers memorably turned their backs on PM Wilmès when she visited a Brussels hospital recently.