Belgian Queen apparently set up slush fund, Politicians not Amused

[deltasquid]

[URL]http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/947/Royalty/article/detail/1559570/2013/01/09/Fabiola-richt-stichting-op-om-erfenis-te-regelen.dhtml[/URL]

Belgian Dutch-speaking source

[quote][B]Queen Fabiola has founded a private foundation which allows her to fine-tune her heritage. This is what the Sudpresse newspapers write. The childless Boudewijn and Fabiola have no direct heirs, but the queen wants to pour at least a part of her heritage to her direct biological nieces and nephews.[/B] Since the passing of king Boudewijn in 1993, Fabiola received approximately some 27 million euros of allocations, but also inherited from her deceased husband. Without heirs, her succession rights on her fortune reach up to 70 procent, but the foundation helps her avoid that.

According to the statutes, which already appeared in the Staatsblad [I](Official Journal)[/I], the "Fons Pereos" foundation has four goals. She wants to assist her family members, promote historical and cultural heritage of the Royal couple, help the Astrida Foundation of the late king Boudewijn and boost Catholic institutions.

The Board of Directors has nine members, one of them Queen Fabiola. In case of dissolution, all funds will go to the Astrida Foundation and another private foundation the queen founded in 1999 in Spain, it appears.

[B]Palace not informed[/B]
The royal palace only discovered today that Queen Fabiola had set up the foundation. The Palace refused to comment on the foundation, "since it is a purely personal initiative. Additionally, the Queen never informed us of her decision", quote the Royal Palace.

[B]"State money averted from its intended purpose"[/B]
"Everyone has the right to optimise their financial situation, also Queen Fabiola, but in this case it concerns money of the state being used in a different way than intended." This says N-VA Member of Parliament Theo Francken in a reaction. Francken points out the Belgian state never paid an allocation or Civil List with the intention of supporting nephews or nieces. An allocation is functional, and used to aid the receiver to fulfill their functions. It is not a salary, not private money, according to the N-VA member.

According to him, the royal family - since also king Boudewijn set up the Astrida Foundation - mixes government money with private fortune. That is only possible because there is no control from the Court of Accounts on the spending of the allocations, and because the allocations and Civil List are poured in a single transaction, Theo Francken claims.

The N-VA Member of Parliament points at the decisions of his party's research on the Royal Family. There, they plead for a control bij the Court of Accounts and the splitting of the allocations and Civil List in a tax-exempt operating grant and a compensatory part which is taxed. [/quote]

[URL]http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/politiek/130110_fabiola_reax_politiek[/URL]

Second article, more recent by a few hours.

[quote]

[B]"Foundation must go, or we'll reduce her allocations"[/B]

[B]All political parties react indignantly on the Foundation with which Fabiola tries to secure her heritage. Multiple parties think the government should force the queen to abolish the foundation, or else her allocations will be cut significantly.[/B]

In the House, there was a lot of debating about the allocations of the Royal Family this afternoon. It's rare, but this time it was this way: all parties are outraged and think it's unethical that Fabiola creates a foundation solely to secure her heritage.

The announcement of the Queen that she never put state money in the foundation, was insufficient to defuse the situation. Because it's undeniable that she set up the foundation to secure her personal fortune, and that she put very strict, christian conditions for organisations to receive donations.

"The Queen needs to set a good example", says Luk Van Biesen (Open VLD). He says that the debate about allocations should be resumed quickly: "who receives money, how much of it and who controls it?". He points out the Royal family has the right to set up foundations for "noble purposes", but he believes this stretches the definition of noble.

Dirk Van der Maelen, from the SP.A also speaks about the Queen's exemplary position. "I'll be brief: this is unacceptable." He wants the government to act swiftly: "either that foundation needs to be abolished, everything undone. Or the queen needs to know that any fiscal advantages she gets, will be compensated for in her next allocations." Also SP.A chairman Bruno Tobback supports that proposal.

[I][... I omitted some rather unrelated shit-flinging between political parties here][/I]

"I ask that Queen Fabiola sends a strong signal and stops this practice", says PS-viceminister Laurette Onkelinx. "As queen of all Belgians for the last 53 years, it is unseemly to use public funds, intended to help her with her public functions, only for her family and religious institutions."

"The gap between the efforts of the population in these times of financial crisis and the financial practices of Fabiola go too far", Onkelinx continues. She notes the difference between "the excellent speech of the King against populism" (Note from Deltasquid: Belgian thing, the King gave a speech on Christmas about how populism is dangerous) and "lack of exemplarity from the Royal Family".

Also the MR thinks a person who receives public funds, should not use fiscal loopholes. The French-speaking liberals are particularly angry about the religious connotations the foundation has. "We ask the Prime Minister to convince the Queen to put a halt to her project or at least guarantee that the money from the fund will be used in the general intrest."

According to CD&V-leader Raf Terwingen, the mixing of public money and private capital is the issue. "Everyone is equal for the law. Queen Fabiola can use all measures that are available. The problem is that state money is being slushed into a private capital, and that's a bridge too far."[/quote]

So yeah, Belgium's having quite some agitation here. Can't see the Royal family getting out of this ordeal without a stain on their public relations.