Belgium reacts to news that a bombing suspect worked inside EU as a cleaner
One of the Islamic State operatives suspected of involvement with the bombings in Brussels last month was once a janitor for the European Union Parliament, an EU spokesman said Wednesday.
The suspect was . The officials did not reveal which of the three identified suspects had held the job but one source identified him as Najim Laachraoui, the attacker who blew himself up at the Zaventem airport.
The revelation comes on the heels of tight scrutiny on Belgium鈥檚 security, , following reports that linked the suspected Brussels perpetrators to the Paris attackers. The EU spokesman said that the former cleaner didn鈥檛 have a criminal record at the time he was employed by the EU.
However, the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel admitted Wednesday that the attacks highlighted a security 鈥渇ailure.鈥�
"When there is an attack like that of course that's a failure and nobody can deny this," said Michel according to the BBC.
鈥淸But] I cannot accept the idea that we're a failed state."
The Belgian prime minister contended that .
"We're a small country at the heart of Europe ... a hub from where one can easily organise attacks in other European countries,鈥� said Michel, urging European countries to cooperate on security issues, the BBC reported.
"It is an easy place to organize attacks in other countries of Europe. It means we have to work better with our partners, and we have to upgrade our capacities for security."
Lode Vanoost, the former deputy speaker of the Belgian Parliament also saying that the high volume of job-seekers overwhelms the vetting process, creating a security loophole for such perpetrators.
鈥淚sn鈥檛 that ironic that we put so much emphasis on security in our society, but the people who actually have to do it [such as security guards] are mainly people who are badly paid, who hardly get a decent salary, decent working conditions,鈥� Vanoost told RT, in an interview. 鈥淎nd after that you are surprised?鈥�
