Flights cancelled in Brussels' airports amid general strikes over government plan to reform pensions
Hundreds of flights were cancelled in Brussels’ Zaventem and Charleroi airports as protesters took to the streets for the fifth general strike of the year to oppose the federal government’s proposed cuts and reforms to pensions.
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00:00Flights were cancelled in Brussels Airport as a general strike over the federal government's plans to reform and cut pensions took place.
00:09Hundreds of departing flights were cancelled and rescheduled for the coming days as many security and airport staff participated in planned protests.
00:17Brussels Airport, Belgium's main hub, only received 103 incoming flights on Wednesday, a sharp drop-off from the more than 260 flights originally planned to arrive.
00:27The airport now expects a few days of extremely high demand as it recovers from the strikes disruptions.
00:58Further south, Charleroi Airport, a major European hub for low-cost airlines, also cancelled all flights, citing a lack of staff.
01:06Tens of thousands participated in protests across the country to oppose the government's plans to raise retirement age and revise pensions.
01:19The Belgian government wants to raise retirement age for all civil servants to 66 to align it with the private sector,
01:26as it says the rising life expectancy is causing a surge in costs.
01:29I think it's very important that the number of people are going to raise our pensions and that we will have less pensions and that we will probably buy tanks with that money and other things to carry on war.
01:44Belgium Prime Minister Bart Deweyver says reforms are needed to also address the large federal budget deficit, which violates EU rules.
01:54The country is also committed to increased defense spending to 5 percent of GDP,
01:59as per the new NATO obligations adopted on Wednesday in the summit in The Hague.
