Migrants are useful for menial jobs, according top Belgian justice minister Paul Van Tigchelt.
“Who looks after our elderly? Who will lay my water pipe? Who cleans my windows at home?” he told a podcast host.
The minister then apologised for his attempted defence of migration but is still facing criticism.
Asked by the host of podcast Talks With Charly if it was possible to stop migration in a country such as Belgium, Van Tigchelt said: “Of course that is not possible.
“It’s neither necessary nor desirable.”
Then he added: “Who takes care of our elderly? Who will lay my water pipe? Who cleans my windows at home?”
That did not seem to go down well with show host Charly Badibanga: “No, wait, I know what you mean, but …”.
At which the minister interjected: “Suppress migration and our economy will grind to a halt.”
“Ok, that’s better,” Badibanga replied.
Van Tigchelt went on to name a number of successful people in Belgium of migrant decent such as movie directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, as well as former footballers Marouane Fellaini, Vincent Kompany and Romelu Lukaku, calling them examples of “the richness of migration”.
Badibanga then returned to the minister’s earlier remarks: “Paul, I’m going to take a step back. I completely understand what you mean, but you said, ‘who cleans my windows at home?’ there’s no need for that.”
Van Tigchelt then apologised. “Sorry for expressing myself wrongly,” he said.
Belgium's Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt is facing calls to resign after footage emerged showing a man of Indian descent being brutally tortured in a Belgian prison in Antwerp over a period of several days. https://t.co/eJ2J2vN6Pi
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) March 14, 2024
Vlaams Belang politician Filip Dewinter said in a reaction on X, “Immigrants as wage slaves and as competitors for our low-skilled workers. Nothing has changed since the coal mines.”
Paul Van Tigchelt’s initial comments were reminiscent of those made in 2015 by TV personality Kelly Osbourne. She said on US talk show The View: “If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet – Donald Trump?”
