"A summary of the report had been discussed and sent to the
minister's cabinet in June 2015," Prime Minister Charles Michel told a
news conference after accepting Galant's resignation.
Belgian transport minister quits over airport security(BBC)
Belgium's
transport minister resigned on Friday following opposition accusations
she lied about an EU report that criticised security at Brussels Airport a year before last month's Islamic State suicide bombings.
Jacqueline
Galant had previously maintained before parliament that her office had
not been aware of a critical report sent in March 2015 by EU officials.
Opposition parties said they had emails proving the contrary.
European
Commission officials declined comment on the report but noted they
carry out regular checks on security at European airports and raise any
concerns with national authorities.
"A summary of the report had been discussed and sent to the minister's cabinet in June 2015," Prime Minister Charles Michel told a news conference after accepting Galant's resignation.
"I cannot accept that parliament was not made aware of this important point yesterday," Michel added.
He
would appoint a replacement as soon as possible, he said. Galant is a
member of Michel's centrist party, which rules in coalition with three
others.
Galant complained of a "crusade" against her by a senior official in the state transport administration.
On
March 22, two Islamic State suicide bombers detonated suitcase bombs in
the airport departure hall before a third struck a metro train in the
city. In all, they killed 32 people.
Following the
attacks and in the face of criticism of the Belgian government at home
and abroad, the interior and justice ministers offered their
resignations to Michel over failures by police to detain one of the
bombers, who had been on wanted lists, but the premier asked them to
stay on.
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