Plan to merge Brussels’ six police zones 'ready by summer'

A plan to merge the six Brussels police zones will be finalised before the summer, according to Belgian interior minister Bernard Quintin.

“I will present this plan to the government in the coming weeks,” Quintin announced.

“My ambition is for it to be finalised before the summer, which will give me the rest of the legislature to do some fine tuning.

"I want to reassure you: the aim is not to concentrate all the resources on certain areas and abandon the rest. We need to be close to the ground to know what is happening in each commune, in each street."

Quintin said that resources will remain for community policing, emphasising that his sole concern is “efficiency”.

He also reiterated his intention to tackle the organisations involved in drug trafficking, with a new plan targeting narcotics trafficking, and also returned to the digitisation of identity cards.

“We must keep moving forward,” the minister said.

“At the end of 2026, we will have the option of having our identity cards on our mobile phones. But there will be a transition period.”