While Ecolo raises the possibility of granting voting rights from the age of 14, David Weytsman points out that rights must also come with duties, and that learning citizenship also means respecting rules and taking individual responsibility. Specifically, he wants teenagers to be liable to sanctions when they commit acts of anti-social behaviour, such as graffiti, damage to street furniture or insults towards municipal staff.
“If the left considers them mature enough to vote, then we must also consider them mature enough to answer for the offences they commit. Learning citizenship also means respecting rules and accepting the consequences of one's actions,” says the liberal.
Four Brussels municipalities already apply this measure: Uccle, Etterbeek, Koekelberg and Berchem-Sainte-Agathe. The aim now is to extend it to the other 15 municipalities, without needing to amend federal legislation, which already allows for GAS from the age of 14.
David Weytsman nonetheless insists on the educational dimension of these sanctions: rather than favouring fines, he wants to encourage mediation, repair of damage and community service.
“A 14-year-old who tags a wall, deliberately damages a bus shelter, destroys a public bin or insults a municipal officer must be liable to sanction. And why not offer them, within an adapted legal framework, the chance to clean up what they have dirtied or take part in restoring public spaces?”
Read the article in Le Soir