Flemish Minister for Animal Welfare Ben Weyts (N-VA) is calling on the federal government to introduce a general ban on the sale of fireworks to members of the public.
The minister pushed for parties to support one of several proposals to ban fireworks at the federal level, he told the Flemish Parliament on Wednesday.
"Enough is enough when it comes to playing with human and animal lives," he said. "The number of victims is far too high. It really isn’t worth the fleeting pleasure. People and animals are being injured, sometimes with fatal consequences."
This is not the first time Minister Weyts has called for a federal ban on fireworks. As Flemish Minister for Animal Welfare, Weyts himself introduced a ban in 2019, but it was subsequently overturned by the Constitutional Court as Flanders lacked the authority to implement it.
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Since then, the minister has been urging local authorities in Flanders to introduce a ban at the local level. These efforts are bearing fruit, as during the last New Year’s period, seven out of ten Flemish municipalities had a ban in place. “So there is a growing awareness, but we are not there yet,” said the minister.
Several proposals for a ban on private fireworks are currently under consideration at federal level. However, according to Minister Weyts, not everyone at the federal level is yet “fully convinced of the urgency of a ban." But now that a nationwide ban on consumer fireworks has been introduced in the Netherlands, Weyts believes “the time is ripe to achieve a breakthrough."
