Retiring Greens chairwoman Meyrem Almaci is submitting a resolution in the Flemish Parliament to make 8 May an official holiday. The party has announced that. In this way, it should be commemorated that on May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany capitulated and the Second World War ended.
The Greens also want to put a similar proposal on the table in the federal parliament. In the Brussels parliament, the majority parties have already submitted a resolution to make that day an official holiday. On May 8, the Iris Festival, or the festival of the Brussels-Capital Region, is celebrated.
“Making May 8 a public holiday would send a strong signal that hope and tolerance will always be stronger than hatred,” Almaci said. “Remembrance to ensure that history does not repeat itself is extremely important,” she added. “The war in Ukraine shows how fragile peace is.”
Almaci thus supports the appeal of the May 8 Coalition, a collective of trade unions and civil society organizations, among others. They had already called for a public holiday on May 8 last month.
Bank holiday
To reinforce the demand, the May 8 Coalition is organizing a large commemoration at Fort Breendonk on Sunday May 8 at 11 am. The fortress south of Antwerp was used by the German occupier during the Second World War as a Nazi prison for mainly political prisoners.
In several countries, such as France, May 8 is a public holiday. The Netherlands celebrates ‘Liberation Day’ on May 5. In Belgium, schoolchildren were given time off on May 8 for a long time, but that day off was abolished in 1974. Armistice Day, the commemoration of the end of the First World War on November 11, is a legal holiday in our country.
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