Francken proposes 'gendarmerie 2.0' military-trained police reserve in Belgium

Protests trigger the proposal

Violence during recent protests in Brussels and Liège prompted Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken (N-VA) to propose a 'gendarmerie 2.0', a reserve of police trained in a military way. Francken presented the idea on RTL-TVi on Sunday evening, 18 October, and said the police were failing to restore calm. He argued the country needs an additional armed force to support the police. A Vlaams Belang proposal had been presented the previous Thursday, 15 October, but Francken said his own plan had been in preparation for several weeks. He described the new unit as a mobile brigade under Interior Minister Bernard Quintin (MR), to be deployed when riots or situations threaten to get out of hand.

Interior and Defence still in talks

Under the plan, officers would receive military training from the Defence ministry and then be placed at the disposal of the Interior ministry. According to De Morgen, the unit would fall under the Interior ministry for public-order incidents but under Defence in a geopolitical conflict, for example with Russia. Francken said Prime Minister Bart De Wever is aware of the proposal and supports it, and that the two ministers held meetings this week. Quintin's cabinet confirmed the talks and placed them in the context of existing cooperation, such as guarding certain sites and mixed patrols with the railway police. On Monday, 19 October, Quintin told BX1 his concern was avoiding a pre-insurrectionary situation like the one seen in France.

"When the violence is so extreme, we must secure the citizens." Francken said this while defending the idea on RTL-TVi.

Quintin described the work as still at an early stage.

“We are at the start of the discussions.”

Unions and parties divided

The CGSP union said the priority should be strengthening existing structures, and called for the restoration of the Réserve générale and the Corps d'intervention (CIK). The SNPS police union supports the proposal, and its vice-president Thierry Belin said restoring order in the streets is the main job of a police officer. Belin added that the aim is not to hit everyone. The SLFP union complained that it learned of the new structure through the press without any social dialogue, and its president Vincent Gilles called for a minister of security combining Justice and the Interior.

“We cannot negotiate with thugs and rioters.”

Brussels mayor Philippe Close (PS) sees no need for a unit combining police and army, and said that funding the police is what matters. He told Bel-RTL on Monday that he wants police officers, and he also demanded a solution for the lack of places for minors in the youth institutions of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, noting that the government has said there is no room before 2028. PS MP Ridouane Chahid called the move 'total audacity' and accused the party of Jan Jambon, interior minister from 2014 to 2018, of starving the federal police of funds.

Historical context and next steps

According to VRT NWS, the gendarmerie lost its formal military status in 1992 and was dissolved in 2001, after the reform of the police and judicial system that followed the Marc Dutroux killings. Francken said the country has changed since then, pointing to mass migration and a street culture that leaves the average Belgian bewildered. RTBF reports that the gendarmerie had been criticised since the 1980s for its culture of secrecy. Francken told VRT the proposal will go to the government in the coming weeks. According to 7sur7, the Brussels clashes come as France faces violent unrest and Italy has seen looting.