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"It's a job for every one of us"

Frédéric Van Leeuw, the federal public prosecutor heading terrorist investigations, has called on Belgium's devolved administrations, the so called communities, to do more to follow up terrorist suspects. Mr Van Leeuw said this should happen both when they return from war zones, but also when they are in prison or released. The prosecutor said that this was a job for Belgium's community administrations that have powers in fields directly linked to the person.

Mr Van Leeuw is eyeing Belgium's three main communities, the Flemish, Francophone and German-speaking communities. The prosecutor charged with all investigations transcending local areas including terrorism said that these terrorist suspects should also be offered psychiatric support by the tree communities. He noted that this was a task of the communities (not to be confused with Belgium's municipalities, sometimes referred to as 'communes'), but added that it was really a job for every one of us.

Frédéric Van Leeuw noted that the justice department could not sort everything out: "Interventions in other fields are also needed including urban planning. In this way certain difficult neighbourhoods can be tackled."

The prosecutor hopes to transform 'negative solidarity' in neighbourhoods where everybody remains silent into 'positive solidarity'.

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