Prince Laurent challenges the reduction of his endowment before the Council of State

Belgium

Prince Laurent will challenge before the Council of State the reduction of its endowment that was imposed on him by the House, his lawyer, Laurent Arnauts, said on Friday before the national holiday. On March 30, the House approved a 15% reduction in Prince Laurent's endowment for one year, to sanction his participation in army uniform at a Chinese Embbady reception without asking for permission.

"Having carefully examined the legal and institutional complexities of the situation," Prince Laurent decided to seek the annulment of this sanction from the Conseil d'État, the lawyer for King Philippe's brother a statement.

"The appeal, which will be filed shortly, is based in particular on the violation of his rights of defense and over-power," said Arnauts. "The proposal that he recently repeated to the government, to clarify his situation and that of his family by means of a protocol supplementing the law 'endowments', has indeed remained unanswered.In addition, the prince can not acquiesce in the violations of fundamental rights which were again inflicted upon him. "

Heard before a special commission of the Chamber, Mr. Arnauts had already lamented that the principle of a sanction was acquired even before Prince Laurent was called to to defend oneself. According to him, the procedure was not fair. Moreover, depriving his client of more than 46,000 euros is tantamount to withdrawing his remuneration, since the rest of his endowment is earmarked for incompressible expenses, he pleaded.

Prince Laurent himself had sent a letter to deputies in which he claimed to be a victim of perseverance. "This endowment, which we talk about reducing or eliminating according to the political or media winds, is the price of a life, the price of my life, which is largely behind me today," he wrote.

As an alternative sanction, his lawyer had proposed the conclusion of a protocol defining better the obligations of the prince with tools to control the respect. In vain, since, after a secret vote in plenary session, the 15% reduction in the endowment was approved by 93 votes in favor and 23 against.

Several opposition MPs had publicly expressed doubts about compliance procedure with the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. While questioning the jurisdiction competent to decide in case of appeal.

Solicited by Belga, Mr. Arnauts did not wish to speak more about the reasons for which he chose the Council of State rather than for courts and tribunals. As for the date of July 20 chosen to communicate, it is not intended "to interfere with this festive period," he says.