70,000 Belgian citizens have written a letter to King Philippe in which they asked the King to urge the “incapable politicians” to take action on climate change. Greenpeace, the organiser of the petition, was received at the Royal Palace to hand over the letters.
Earlier today, two representatives from the environmental organisation Greenpeace were received at the Royal Palace to hand over a petition. In the petition, people expressed their concerns about the incapability of the Belgian politicians to do something about climate change. They ask King Philippe to urge the Belgian politicians to finally do something to save our climate. Throughout two weeks, over 70,000 citizens signed the petition.
Valerie Del Re, general manager of Greenpeace Belgium, and one signer were welcomed by the Secretary-General of His Majesty the King, Pol De Witte to hand over the petition. Mr De Witte stated that His Majesty thinks the climate is a crucial theme and thanked Greenpeace for handing over the appeal. That the King takes climate change serious was also shown by the fact that he asked his Secretary-General to receive the representatives from Greenpeace.
The four children of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, Elisabeth, Gabriël, Emmanuel and Eléonore, also received t-shirts from the organisation with the text: “It’s not too late”. The organisation also offered its expertise and experiences to come to an ambitious national climate plan in the near future.
Despite recent climate marches in the capital, the Belgium government recently voted against a European bill on more energy efficiency and renewable energy. Additionally, the government refused to join the “High Ambition Coalition” on the recent climate conference in Katowice, Poland.
King Philippe had another busy day as he continued his round of consultations as he received seven party leaders in separate audiences today. The King is trying to get a better understanding of the various points of view of the political parties before he will have to accept or refuse the dismissal of the Belgian government. On Tuesday, the Belgian government fell after weeks of crisis over the VN Migration Pact.
Today, the King will consult the Presidents of the Chamber and the Senate.
