During the Municipal Council meeting of October 13, the Ecolo-Groen group submitted the following motion.

The majority did not co-sign, arguing that no official text had yet been adopted at the federal level and that the motion was therefore premature.

Ecolo-Groen maintains its position.

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The Council,

Considering the Federal Policy Declaration providing for the possibility for the police and the Immigration Office to enter a private home in order to arrest persons staying illegally in Belgium;

Considering that the law already allows security forces to intervene and control any person likely to endanger public order;

Considering that this declaration could be a prelude to amending the law in such a way that investigating judges would be almost compelled to authorize such home visits;

Considering that “Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence,” as stated in Article 8 of the European Charter of Human Rights;

Considering that the home is inviolable according to Article 15 of the Constitution, that exceptions to this inviolability are extremely limited, and that an investigating judge may only order a search within the context of an offence or a criminal investigation, not an administrative procedure;

Considering the announcement by the Arizona Coalition of a legislative amendment allowing investigating judges to order searches outside of any judicial investigation, in order to carry out an administrative arrest;

Considering that the Constitutional Court, in its judgment no. 148/2017 of 21 December 2017, struck down certain provisions of the so-called “Pot-Pourri II” law — in particular the possibility of conducting searches outside of a judicial investigation — due to the seriousness of the infringement on the right to privacy and the inviolability of the home;

Considering that this reasoning applies even more strongly in the context of an administrative procedure;

Considering that this draft law stigmatizes people living in an irregular migration situation by removing their most fundamental rights of defence and by equating an administrative procedure with a criminal one;

Considering the “Hospitable Municipality” motion adopted by the Etterbeek Municipal Council in 2018, which aimed to strengthen ties between migrants and the local population, and to improve the reception of migrants (with or without residence papers);

The Etterbeek Municipal Council:

• EXPRESSES its opposition, addressed to the De Wever government, to any law authorizing home visits with the aim of arresting a person staying illegally;

• INVITES the Federal Government to reconsider its position in light of the various opinions issued by the Council of State, the Bar Association, the Magistrates’ Union, and several civil society organizations (CNCD, Human Rights League, Ciré, etc.);

• INSTRUCTS the Mayor to transmit this motion to the President of the Chamber, the heads of parliamentary groups, the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior, and the Minister of Justice;

• REAFFIRMS Etterbeek’s status as a “Hospitable, Responsible and Welcoming Municipality.”