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  [84]Belgium

Abolish internet shopping in Belgium, says leader of party in coalition

  Paul Magnette, the Socialist party leader, describes e-commerce as
  ‘social and ecological degradation’
  Young woman with credit card and headphones online shopping at laptop
  on living room sofa
  [ ]
  The Covid pandemic has increased the proportion of people making online
  purchases. Photograph: Tony Tallec/Alamy
  The Covid pandemic has increased the proportion of people making online
  purchases. Photograph: Tony Tallec/Alamy


  [85]Daniel Boffey in Brussels
  Fri 11 Feb 2022 07.01 EST [ ]

  Last modified on Fri 11 Feb 2022 08.04 EST
    *
    *
    *

  The leader of a party in Belgium’s governing coalition has sparked a
  debate after proposing that the country abolish internet shopping to
  let its high streets thrive and reduce night warehouse work.

  Paul Magnette, the leader of the Socialist party and mayor of
  Charleroi, Belgium’s third biggest city, said he feared the current
  trends were hollowing out urban centres and driving down working
  conditions.

  “Let Belgium become a country without e-commerce,” Magnette told the
  Flemish newspaper Humo. “I don’t think e-commerce is progress but
  social and ecological degradation. Why do we have to let workers work
  in those warehouses at night? Because people want to buy around the
  clock and have their parcels at home within 24 hours. Can we really not
  wait two days for a book?”

  According to Eurostat, 75% of Belgians aged 16 to 74 made a purchase
  online in 2021, just above the average among the 27 EU member states.
  Denmark had the highest proportion of internet shoppers (91%) and
  Bulgaria the lowest (33%).

  The Covid pandemic has sped up the transition. In March 2020, about 40%
  of UK shoppers said they had been shopping more online than before the
  pandemic. By February 2021 this proportion had grown to approximately
  75%, according to Statista.

  Magnette’s comments were made before a decision of the federal
  government on possible changes to the regulations on night work, a
  measure deemed necessary by some in order for Belgium to keep up with
  neighbouring countries such as the Netherlands.

  Companies in Belgium must pay a night rate for work carried out after
  8pm. A new system is under consideration where a daily rate is
  applicable for 20 of the 24 hours of a day, if a union representing
  staff in the company is in agreement.

  Magnette argued that night work should instead be limited to where it
  was strictly necessary, including in the emergency services, as he
  claimed the biggest risk facing Belgium was “not unemployment but the
  long-term sick”.

  A spokesperson for the Socialist party later clarified that Magnette
  was not opposed to the digital sector but that he wanted there to be a
  debate about the consequences of internet shopping.
  How mighty will Amazon be after the pandemic?
  Read more

  The comments nevertheless drew scornful responses from his political
  foes.

  Egbert Lachaert, the chairman of the Open VLD, a Flemish
  conservative-liberal party, tweeted: “Going back to the economy of 100
  years ago will not help us. [86]E-commerce can now provide jobs for
  thousands of people. We’re not going to let that go, are we?”

  Georges-Louis Bouchez, a senator in the liberal Francophone Reformist
  Movement party, said: “The 19th century cannot be a model of society.
  Progress is an opportunity. We need an open mind and adaptability in
  our society for greater wellbeing. We should not just leave e-commerce
  to other countries. We would lose hundreds of millions.”

  Asked to comment on the debate, Vincent Van Peteghem, the federal
  finance minister and a member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish
  party, said he recognised the need to strike the right balance.

  “I do not think it should be one or the other, but rather one and the
  other,” he said, adding that it was important to have “an e-commerce
  sector which is sustainable and which functions with adequate working
  conditions”.

  This article was amended on Friday 11 February 2022 to correct a
  reference to Humo, which is a Flemish newspaper, not a Francophone one.
  Topics
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