Freedom Sprouts

at

A judge has given the Belgian State 30 days to provide a sound legal basis for covid restrictions

This afternoon.

The Belgian State has been ordered to lift “all coronavirus measures” within 30 days, as the legal basis for them is insufficient, a Brussels court ruled.

Via The Brussels Times:

The League for Human Rights had filed the lawsuit several weeks ago and challenged Belgium’s system of implementing the measures using Ministerial Decrees, which means it is done without any input from parliament.

The judge gave the Belgian State 30 days to provide a sound legal basis, or face a penalty of €5,000 per day that this period is exceeded, with a maximum limit of €200,000, reports Le Soir.

The current coronavirus measures are based on the Civil Safety Act of 2007, which enable the State to react quickly in “exceptional circumstances,” but the judge has now ruled that these laws cannot serve as a basis for the Ministerial Decrees.

Belgium must lift ‘all Covid-19 measures’ within 30 days, Brussels court rules (The Brussels Times)

Meanwhile…

Gulp.

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43 thoughts on “Freedom Sprouts

  1. eoin

    Good for the Belgian courts. They have done the RIGHT thing. Let everyone out and about without masks or distancing and let herd immunity run it’s course as it has since the dawn of time. Unless there’s something special about covid19 that were not being told?

        1. Micko

          Good isn’t it

          How many times did you say to yourself while watching it “That’s what I’ve been fupping saying for ages!!!! What the hell is going on?”

          I did it loads…

          :-)

          1. MoRhustyDilis

            Yep, that’s about your level of intellectual response alright. Rather than watching the vid and expanding your knowledge even a little.
            You’ll go far.

    1. George

      There’s something special about Covid-19 that you are being told and aren’t listening.

      Which other viruses do we have herd immunity to without vaccination? Ebola, aids, influenza, herpes?

      Come on guys, let’s all develop herd immunity to genital herpes by getting ourselves infected!

      1. Joe

        Don’t forget the wonderful HPV vaccine folks, I am sure the usual crew of anti-covid denying loons on Broadsheet can go and f… themselves and see how they get on :)

    2. Junkface

      Herd immunity is a failed theory on covid 19, as we have all witnessed, that if the virus spreads more and more among groups in a country for a period of time, soon enough we will have new variants mutating. The B117 variant is highly contagious and proved that Ireland relaxing the rules for Christmas was a failure, particularly letting Irish people travel home from the highly infected areas of the UK. It was so dumb.

          1. Daisy Chainsaw

            The pro plague spreaders couldn’t talk enough about Sweden a few months back, now it’s crickets.

          2. GiggidyGoo

            From that article “Sweden’s death rate per capita is many times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours’ but lower than in most European countries that opted for lockdowns.“

          3. ce

            “Sweden’s death rate per capita is many times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours’ but lower than in most European countries that opted for lockdowns.“ – Yep, just cause you have a ‘lockdown’ doesn’t mean you are enforcing it. In addition, lots of places in Europe have very different types of restrictions, hairdressing, bars etc. open. So for example, hairdresser and blowdrying… not a great mix for air born problems etc. But the important thing about the article is that the poster child for herd immunity – and the place with a very cooperative society in terms of health restrictions… ain’t going too well…. That’s not a good think, it would be great if it worked but it doesn’t.

            Everybody wants an easy answer – ‘herd immunity’, ‘lock everything down’ etc… there’s no easy answer to this.

          4. Cui Bono?

            There’s not an abnormally high increase in death in Sweden. It was predicted that they would have over 85,000 deaths in 1 season but they’ve only had 13,430 in 2 seasons.

            Comparing total deaths to previous years there’s nothing out of the ordinary too.

            You should look at the raw data to form your opinions. It tells you the unbiased reality.

          5. GiggidyGoo

            It’s worked as well as lockdown though (apart from the Nordics). That’s the trouble with comparisons. Opposite viewpoints can be proven to suit the argument.

          6. ce

            Yes, I will certainly take your comment on board because I have done no such thing to date.

            Thank you for pointing out my ignorance

          7. ce

            There is no such thing as raw data – it’s all meaningless without interpretation, without asking specific question about the raw numbers. That process can certainly lead to bias, and yes there are ways to mitigate that, how do you do yours?

          8. Micko

            Obv comparing countries is not a good idea.

            But anyone can check themselves that Sweden is “beating” a ton of other European countries when in comes to covid deaths per million. Including France, UK, Italy, Spain, Belgium etc.

            Just go on Worldometer and order the table by Deaths per million.

            Takes 2 secs

            But, I never really got the need to compare Sweden to its Nordic neighbours on Covid Top Trumps.

            I mean, do we think that Nordics are all alike or think the same or something?

            Seems a little bit racist to me.

          9. George

            The reason for comparing Sweden to other Nordics is they have similar health systems.

            Sweden has a little over twice the population of Ireland but 13,430 deaths compared with 4681 here. The majority of the deaths in Ireland happened following the lifting of lockdown measures in December.

          10. Micko

            When you say “ they have similar health systems.”

            You mean better healthcare systems, right?

          11. Unreal

            Do you not want to say thanks to me Piggedy? I don’t know how to mask my upset at you.
            Could you not claim the prize to get a few windshield wipers or something for the Transit?

        1. ce

          There are definitely country that have managed not to have complete extended (more than a month) national lockdowns and virtual no Covid deaths… I’ll make comparisons to those.

          Sadly, it’s too late for us to follow suit now – and several completely irresponsible country have destroyed the prospect of keeping the pandemic under control – so we’re going to limp along, cause even more economic damage, destroy mental health… etc…

          Remember to put the blame in the right place, not just in the thing you don’t personally like…

  2. paul

    If opening up the country proves to be a mistake, will the judge accept their part in any subsequent illnesses or deaths? I would think a judge would understand the ground they stand on.

    That said, Ireland have a whole pile of the dumbest most self-involved, smooth-brained gombeens to ever fall out of bed sitting on high benches here so, glass houses and all that.

    1. Ray

      Hi Paul. I don’t think the judge was being asked if the country should be opened up or not. The challenge related to the legal basis on which the measures were based. Will be appealed no doubt or the appropriate laws might be passed.

      Here in Ireland there has been some criticism of the way certain guidelines have been presented as laws.

      1. paul

        That’s fair enough and I’d be on the side of that, it all has to be on the level. I hope the process will allow for an overlap so there is no gap in the protective measures for the country. Like the legal loophole that existed here in 2015 that let pretty much all drugs be legal for 24 hours caused by a small oversight months (or even years) before.

        That law/guideline mish-mash we have here is a mess. Poor leadership like that erodes trust and faith. A lot of it falls down to ‘I think I’m doing the right thing’.

    2. Joe

      It was a simple legal point of law that was adjudicated on not a question of opening up or not.

  3. naugahyde

    Gardaí racing around Bushy Park this evening, chasing young teens and telling everyone who was sitting down to get up.

    Letter of the law according to the friendly guard who smiled his way through explaining why he was disturbing me reading my book.

    Up to 5km for exercise only; no lounging. Shift, move. First time I’ve properly appreciated in one small aspect of what it must be like being homeless.
    Left me agog. This won’t go down well.

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