Belgian ‘pro-climate=conspiracy’ minister resigns

In this 5 February 2019 video, then still Flemish Minister of the Environment Joke Schauvliege called the strikes by Belgian students and other protests against climate change a conspiracy to destroy her personally.

Translated from Belgian (conservative ‘Christian Democrat’) daily De Standaard, 18:30:

Emotional Schauvliege resigns as minister

by Eveline Vergauwen

A very emotional Joke Schauvliege (CD & V)

her conservative ‘Christian Democrat’ party

resigns as minister after her climate speech including ‘a conspiracy theory’. …

Schauvliege herself emphasized that she has always tried to reconcile. ‘I have tried to bring nature and agribusiness together, ecology, economy and climate, and want to invest in prosperity.’ …

The CD & V politician said in that speech that the State Security Service had confirmed to her that there was a clear organization behind the climate demonstrations. What turned out to be untrue later.

Successor

No successor has yet been announced. Schauvliege is still the #1 candidate for the East Flanders provincial list for the Flemish Parliament during the elections in May.

UPDATE: CD & V politician Koen Van den Heuvel is Schauvliege’s successor.

In November 2015 already, De Standaard reported that other politicians accused her of worrying more about money than about the environment. The headline about that article described Ms Schauvliege as The Woman Without Qualities; an allusion to the novel The Man Without Qualities by Austrian author Robert Musil.