Melchior Wathelet, Jr.

Melchior Wathelet
Melchior Wathelet (January 2014)
Minister of the Interior
In office 22 July 2014 – 11 October 2014
Prime Minister	Elio Di Rupo
Preceded by	Joëlle Milquet
Succeeded by	Jan Jambon
Secretary of State of Environment, Energy, Mobility and Institutional Reforms
In office 6 December 2010 – 22 July 2014
Prime Minister	Elio Di Rupo
Preceded by	Paul Magnette (Environment and Energy) Didier Reynders (Institutional Reforms)
Succeeded by	Catherine Fonck
Personal details
Born	30 September 1977 Verviers, Belgium
Political party	Humanist Democratic Centre
Alma mater	Catholic University of Louvain University of Southampton
Website	Official website

Melchior Wathelet (born 30 September 1977 in Verviers) is a Belgian politician, Secretary of State of Environment, Energy, Mobility and Institutional Reforms, and member of the Centre démocrate humaniste (cdH).^[1] His father is Melchior Wathelet. He followed part of his secondary education in Dutch at a school in Bilzen,Limburg. After a degree in law from the Catholic University of Louvain and a Master of European Law from the University of Southampton, he became lawyer at the Bar association of Liège in 2002.

He started his political career in 2003,^[1] when he was elected as member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives where he quickly became group member for his party and second vice-president of the cdH.

He became secretary of state in charge of the budget in the Leterme II Government, and kept this charge in the Van Rompuy I Government and the Leterme II Government.^[1]

He became secretary of state in charge of Environment, Energy and Mobility in the Di Rupo I Government in 2010. After the 2014 elections on 22 July 2014 Joelle Milquet resigned to become minister of Lower education and Culture in the Government of the French Community. She was replaced as Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of the interior by Wathelet.

Plan Wathelet and the controversy surrounding it

On 6 February 2014 Melchior Wathelet - in his function as secretary of state in charge of Environment, Energy and Mobility - implemented a plan that reorganizes the departure routes from Brussels National Airport in Zaventem. One of the goals of the plan was to spread airplane traffic over a wider area.^[2] As a result of this plan, the majority of departing aircraft are routed over densely populated areas of Brussels.^[3] This plan – referred to by campaigners as the Plan Wathelet – soon became the object of controversy and led to a wave of complaints by residents affected by aircraft noise. A revision of the plan was blocked by the government of Flanders in early May.^[4]

The question of how to route the airline traffic from Zaventem airport, which is located near to the urban area of Brussels has been a contentious political issue for many years.^[5] The jurisdictional complexity of the region, and the multitude of intersecting political priorities makes an agreement hard to find with the different Belgian regions, communes and political parties each pushing different agendas. The plan played a role in the federal and regional elections of May 2014, leading to poor results for Wathelet's party, and a solution is not likely until after the formation of a federal government.^[5]

The main criticisms centered on the following facts:

• Plan Wathelet was introduced without any prior consultation with local residents. In other European Countries, such a consultation process is a regulatory requirement before any change to aircraft routes (Standard Terminal Arrival Routes, STARs, and Standard Instrument Departures, SIDs) can be published. Furthermore no impact assessment had been carried out prior to the publication of the new departure routes.^[6]

Wathelet’s problem management also came under discussion.^[7]

• Melchior accused residents’ groups of pursuing an ulterior political agenda against him.^[8]
• After the implementation of the plan, the Brussels minister for Environment Evelyne Huytebroeck claimed that the number of residents affected by aircraft noise was much larger than originally announced by Wathelet.^[9] Wathelet initially dismissed this claim and other criticisms as unsubstantiated.^[8][10] In May 2014, a study by the Free University of Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles) confirmed that the number of residents subjected to aircraft noise has tripled in comparison to the previously used departure routes.^[11]

Notes

1. "Melchior Wathelet". Lachambre.be (in French). Belgian government. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
2. Blyth, Derek (30 April 2014). "Brussels city council calls for change in Zaventem flight paths". Flanders Today. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
3. "Survol de Bruxelles: aucune commune n’est épargnée par les décollages (cartes)". Le Soir. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
4. "Survol de Bruxelles: le nouveau plan Wathelet ne décollera pas ce vendredi". La Libre (in French). 8 May 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
5. de Wilde, Dirk (24 June 2014). "Brussels flightpath politics cause public furore". EUObserver.com. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
6. Persoons, Caroline. "Réunion du Mardi 25 Février 2014" (PDF). Commission de l'Environnement, de la Conservation de la Nature, de la Politique de l'Eau et de l’Énergie. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
7. "Survol de Bruxelles: Reynders veut que Wathelet agisse". Le Soir. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
8. "Wathelet: "En période électorale, le MR et le FDF sont frappés d'une amnésie ahurissante"". L'Echo. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
9. "Huytebroeck vraagt stopzetting spreidingsplan". Brusselnieuws. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
10. "Brussel wil vroeger spreidingsplan terug". Nieuwsblad. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
11. Dobruzkes, F.; Decroly, J.-M.; Sotiaux, A. "Analyse ex post des nouvelles procédures aériennes mise en service le 6 février 2014 dans la région métropolitaine bruxelloise.". Université Libre de Bruxelles. Retrieved 22 June 2014.

External links

Media related to Melchior Wathelet at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website