Increasing Crime In EU’s Unofficial Capital And NATO HQ Demonstrates Collapse Of Western Order

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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher

The increasing crime and militarization of security in Belgium demonstrate the progressive collapse of the Western order. This militarization extends for reasons beyond the fight against drug trafficking and increasing crime, and serves as a warning against mass illegal migration. Although crime in Brussels, the unofficial capital of the European Union and headquarters of NATO, saw a decline by 2011, it rose rapidly again in 2020 and 2023, coinciding with the mass arrival of illegal immigrants to Europe in 2015, leaving the country’s authorities no choice but to finally announce a crackdown.

Belgian Minister of Security and Home Affairs Bernard Quintin announced a new security plan last week that includes the deployment of soldiers alongside police in the country’s major cities, with special attention to areas considered sensitive, such as metro stations and troubled neighborhoods.

According to the minister, the so-called “big cities plan” was agreed upon with Defense Minister Theo Francken to combat organized crime related to drug trafficking, a priority over terrorism.

Quintin decried the summer’s violence as “a catastrophe” and warned that “criminal gangs are becoming increasingly brazen.”

“A police uniform no longer deters them,” he told The Brussels Times, adding soldiers would be deployed for their “shock effect” alongside police. Those “mixed teams of officers and soldiers” would patrol “criminal hotspots in Brussels.”

The announcement comes as the country has become a recurring scene of score-settling and gun battles, with nearly 60 shootings so far this year, 20 of which occurred in the summer, according to Brussels prosecutor Julien Moinil, who is living under police protection. But the plan goes beyond deploying soldiers and also proposes strengthening surveillance systems in cities such as Antwerp, Ghent, Liège, Charleroi, and Mons.

“We are starting in Brussels because that is where the need is greatest, but we will see if it is necessary in other cities,” Quintin said. “Antwerp is also affected by drug-related crime, just like other cities.”

The Belgian plan reveals that the traditional fight against drug trafficking in Europe is a total failure and that the Western order continues to crumble. Behind the current situation of violence in European countries lies the abandonment of the welfare state, and, in addition to this, with Europe’s submission to the United States, NATO members have accepted an increase in the military budget, which will continue to impact social investment. It is a structural problem that will continue to grow because social investment is declining, and guarantees have been reduced.

On the other hand, in reality, the security plan announced by Quintin is a political decision that goes beyond the fight against drug trafficking. Fundamentally, it is aimed at controlling the mass of illegal immigrants. By increasing coercive force and violence, they are sending a message to those arriving illegally from Africa and the Middle East seeking work opportunities or social benefits and a new life.

It is recalled that in June of this year, Quintin announced that Belgium would strengthen entry controls on illegal and secondary migrants. The controls aim to combat illegal migration flows and prevent migration pressures from shifting to Belgium. They also aim to combat crime and strengthen the country’s security.

One of Quintin’s arguments for sending troops into the streets is that the army’s role is to safeguard the territory, and that this mission is not limited to borders or international arenas.

“The battle against drug mafias is also a question of territorial integrity,” Quintin told the newspaper De Standaard.

In this regard, Belgium’s militarizing public security is opening a Pandora’s box in which you know where it begins, but you have a hard time knowing where it ends, as it could lead to an exacerbation of violence, among other things, because in all countries around the world, the military is not trained for dealing with citizens but enemy combatants.

At the same time, there is the possibility that the soldiers Quintin sends into the streets could be from NATO, that is, soldiers essentially trained for war. In that sense, combating drug trafficking with a war-like approach, as the US does with its “War on Drugs,” will have extremely catastrophic consequences for society as a whole.

Nonetheless, Quintin’s plan has received pushback, with Brussels Mayor Philippe Close stating that soldiers would not be helpful in the neighborhoods of the country’s capital and instead calling for patrols in Antwerp, Europe’s second-busiest port city, to combat drug trafficking. However, Moinil declared “anyone in Brussels can be hit a by a stray bullet” and called for more resources to tackle gun and drug crime, showing that although the plan is nationwide, it will begin in the capital, where Belgians themselves constitute only 22% of the city’s population.

Brussels is no longer desirable despite being the EU’s unofficial capital and the location of NATO’s headquarters, leaving the country’s authorities no choice but to deal with crime in a heavy-handed manner, whilst remaining committed to the European liberal project. This means it is unlikely that mass deportations will begin, even if foreigners make up nearly half of the country’s prison population, despite constituting only about a third of the country’s total population. In this way, Quintin is not dealing with the issue at its root.

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