Belgium transport minister steps down after document leak
A confidential European Union report criticizing Belgium’s security measures surfaced after terrorist bombings on March 22. She’s the first official to resign over the attacks.
On Friday, Belgium’s transport minister, Jacqueline Galant, resigned after the surfacing of a confidential document detailing the government’s flawed airport security measures.
The document came from the European Union and was sent to Belgian government officials roughly a year ago, though Galant denied seeing it. It was leaked to the public after terrorist bombings at Brussels Airport and in the city’s subway system on March 22 killed 32 people.
The Wall Street Journal reported that pressure on Galant has been growing since the documents became public, further explaining:
The commission is in charge of ensuring that airports, airlines and national regulators implement EU laws on aviation security. Those laws, and the commission checks, are limited to the “airside” of an airport—after passengers have passed through security—rather than the “landside,” which includes the airport departure hall where the terrorists set off their bombs on March 22.
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