THE Belgian Prime Minister, Mr Jean Luc Dehaene, announced yesterday that disciplinary proceedings were being initiated against officials criticised by a parliamentary report into bungled investigations into missing children.
Shortly afterwards, the report was adopted unanimously by parliament.
The vote by the 137 deputies followed two days of debate that exposed tensions between the Francophone Liberal opposition party and the four parties in the centre left coalition.
"The Justice and Interior Ministers have decided to initiate disciplinary procedures, once the report has been approved," Mr Dehaene told deputies.
"Investigations will be opened to examine whether the individual shortcomings highlighted by the commission justify disciplinary sanctions and, if this is the case, which ones," he declared.
However, "these procedures cannot be rushed," he said, adding that they should respect "the right to a defence."
Mr Dehaene also committed his government to following the commission's recommendations to overhaul the judicial and police system.
In the report published on Tuesday, the 17 member parliamentary commission condemned judicial and police officials for their bungled investigations into missing children.
The report blamed former justice minister, Mr Melchior Wathelet, for the early release of convicted rapist Marc Dutroux, who is now awaiting trial for the abduction of six girls and the murder of four.
It also identified some 30 other individuals it said were responsible for the failure of the investigations.
In an opinion poll yesterday in the weekly magazine Le Vif/L'Express two thirds of Belgians want the Interior Minister, Mr Johan Vande Lanotte, and the Justice Minister, Mr Stefaan de Clerck, to resign over the mishandling of paedophile investigations.
According to the poll, 69 per cent said they had no faith in the government led by Mr Dehaene. The opinion poll was conducted before the release of the report.