Residents of Brussels today staged a lively march through the streets of the Belgian capital demanding a steep rise in the amount of papers and passport photos they must provide to the Belgian commune authorities. A spokesperson for the ‘We Ask for Slow Treatment’ (WAST) movement said that most visitors to the maison communale feel “neglected” by the quick turn-around during an average trip to their local commune.
“Today I only had to join three different queues and had to provide just four different passport-sized photos,” one dejected resident of Bruxelles-les-bains said between trumbone trumpets.
Another resident told of a time he visited the commune just before lunch closing time at 11.38 and was cruely told to “exit the building and come back after lunch at 15.36.” The man in question had purposefully visited just before the lunch break, hoping to spend long hours lounging in the luxury of the commune waiting area.
WAST’s spokesperson Gimme Mortime told the Commune Secretary-General for efficiency, M. Rouban-rouge, said that queue waiting time needs to be tripled, while residents should attach original photos to all documents, as well as providing at least ten copies of each administrative document.
Mortime said that Brussels’ residents should be made to feel that the “Commune cares”, before releasing a fire cracker into the gathered crowd.
Responding to the call, leaders of the commune said they planned to act on the sentiments of local residents by introducing a “redirection policy”. Under the new scheme, when all queuers reach the end of their queue they will be redirected to a new queue at least three times during one commune visit.
Brilliant!