According to the parliament speaker, the images were filmed during a visit to parliament on January 13, which was not organized by Parliament. The imam was part of a group of guests from the association “Friends of Brussels” who visited parliament at the invitation of PS MP Hasan Koyuncu (PS). The group consisted of people with different philosophical and religious views.
“It is extremely questionable, even shocking,” responds Theo Francken (N-VA) on the news site ‘BRUZZ’. “The separation between state and religion is sacred to me. It is reprehensible that someone comes to recite Koranic verses in the parliament of the capital of Europe. If this had happened in Parliament, the commotion would have been enormous.”
MR faction leader in the Brussels Parliament David Leisterh also reacts sharply to X. “Centuries of religious struggle are staring us in the face. How can we accept such behavior? That’s what neutrality is for. My group demands accountability,” he said.
“The Parliament is only the temple of democracy,” responds the chairman of the Brussels Parliament Rachid Madrane (PS) to the ‘Belga’ press agency. Rachid Madrane stressed on behalf of the Bureau on Friday that “Parliament must remain absolutely neutral”. He reminded this again in a letter to Hasan Koyuncu, but also to all faction leaders. Madrane also places the issue on the agenda of the next Bureau, where he will propose to explicitly include respect for neutrality in Parliament’s rules of procedure.