This was the new policy of the weekend: the appointment of journalist Hadja Lahbib as foreign minister by the MR. A political coup that also has a political cost.
The fact of the president
The political “coup” is the act of the prince, finally of the president. By appointing a surprise figure as Minister, President Georges Louis Bouchez is acting with authority. The three appointments he had to manage are “hits” that left no one indifferent. The surprise came from the fact that Mathieu Michel and Adrien Dolimont had no experience of an executive function at this level. It is even more true here. Because Hadja Lahbib is a personality outside the party and even politics. On the very personality of Hadja Lahbib, the “coup” offers the MR a possibility of breaking its image of a rather conservative party defending the rich whites of the south of Brussels.
Offering a woman from Brussels with an Algerian immigrant background the representation of Belgium abroad has been hailed even in progressive feminist circles favorable to diversity. Feminist, progressive, diversity three categories with which the president of the MR is rather in cultural war. However, what he calls “the wokist left”, largely welcomed his choice yesterday.
The political “coup” is of course a preparation for the next elections in Brussels. A personality like Hadja Lahbib must make it possible to display, in the literal and figurative sense, an MR open to diversity, and to break into electorates with an immigrant background. An area largely neglected so far in favor of the PS and Ecolo.
Internal cost
But this “blow” also has a cost. The first cost is internal to the MR. Naming a personality outside the party, moreover a personality who says he is neither left nor right, goes badly with some and some. Many see it once again as the hand of the Michel family’s hold on the party. Elected officials have the impression of being considered as incompetent flowerpots by the president. Because neither Hadja Lahbib, nor Mathieu Michel, nor Adrien Dolimont were chosen by voters in regional or federal elections. It is the choice of the president before the choice of the people. Note that it is far from being a specialty of the MR, Thomas Dermine at the PS or Céline Tellier at Ecolo had not gone through the polls before having their morocco.
Cost for Foreign Affairs
The second cost is for foreign affairs. To name an inexperienced personality in the middle of the war in Ukraine is to consider foreign affairs as an adjustment variable for domestic politics. The political tradition in Belgium, as in many countries, is to appoint seasoned personalities, accustomed to negotiations and capable of quickly building networks. Hadja Lahbib contrasts with Sophie Wilmès, Didier Reynders, Louis Michel, Karel De Gucht, Willy Claes, Marc Eyskens, Leo Tindemans on this point.
It is true that Belgium does not have a nuclear suitcase or a direct line with Sergei Lavrov, but it is nevertheless in a very sensitive period that Hadja Labib will have to cut her teeth.
Cost for journalism
The third cost is for French-speaking Belgian journalism. Once again a presenter or TV presenter comes to the MR. The list begins to grow. Frédérique Ries, Michel de Maegd, Olivier Maroy, Florence Reuter, Hadja Lahbib for this only party which visibly adores TV journalists. Let’s add Anne Delvaux to the CDh, the Dubié brothers at Ecolo, Jean Paul Prosecutor, Pierre Migisha, etc. Transfers from television to politics are commonplace in French-speaking Belgium. With the “fils de” it becomes another local specialty and no longer has anything original about it.
Of course each journalist, at the individual level, is fully legitimate to make the noble choice of politics. But the accumulation of cases is problematic. The risk of this debauchery of debauchery is that the public perceives politics and journalism even more as an in-between, as the same sphere, as an inbred elite.
Of course it’s more complicated than that. The arrival of TV stars in politics has not radically changed the relationship between media and politics in recent years. But perception matters, it matters a lot. Each of these political blows is therefore also a blow to the image of the profession.