Belgian transport minister resigns over airport security row

Brussels, April 16: The Belgian transport minister has resigned following accusations that she covered up a failure to act on a report warning of security flaws at the country’s airports. Jacqueline Galant stepped down on Friday after coming under significant pressure from opposition parties to say what she knew about two reports from the European commission that criticised lax security at Belgian airports, The Guardian reported. Her resigtion comes less than a month after coordited attacks on Brussels airport and the city’s metro system that killed 32 people and injured more than 300. Two suicide bombers detoted explosives in the departure lounge of the airport before a separate attack took place on a train.

Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel said that he had accepted her resigtion.

The pressure on Galant reached fever pitch on Thursday night when two reports criticising security at the two Brussels airports were widely circulated in the Belgian parliament, having already been leaked to the media. The reports, the most recent dating from June 2015, criticised serious deficiencies in security at Belgium’s airports. (IANS)