Anger over unpaid parking fines in Brussels

Diplomats in Brussels are facing a crackdown by the authorities after refusing to pay almost 1,000 fines. The city has nearly 1,000 outstanding traffic tickets and parking fines. Emissaries and envoys to the EU and Belgium, who have legal immunity under the Vienna Convention, have angered the country’s foreign ministry by refusing to pay 971 fines over the past three years.

The worst offenders include Germany, Greece, Hungary and Malta, part of the 28 permanent representations of national governments to the EU. Turkish military officials at Nato are also named as offenders, as well as diplomats at the embassies of Saudi Arabia and India.