The office of Prime Minister Charles Michel reacted briefly on Friday to a seven-page letter sent by the lawyer of Prince Laurent. “As the Prime Minister announced in parliament, the case is being examined at the legal level,” the Prime Minister’s spokesman Barend Leyts said. “It will soon be submitted to the council of ministers.”
In his letter, the lawyer of King Phillippe’s brother called for his client to keep his current allocation, arguing among other things that “no diplomatic harm of any type has been caused by the prince”.
“The prince needs to maintain his rank, in all modesty, but the State also needs to maintain its rank, particularly with those to whom it has left no other option but to serve its interests (such as it conceives them) throughout their lives,” Maitre Arnauts added.
After Prince Laurent attended an event at the Chinese Embassy in July 2016 without prior authorization, Prime Minister Michel proposed to the Government, in September, to launch the procedure allowing “a proportionate sanction” to be applied.
A 10% to 15% reduction in the prince’s annual allowance of 308,000 euros has been mentioned. The eventual sanction will have to be set by parliament.
The Brussels Times
