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2023-09-22 04:31:00

“We had 13 MR deputies elected to the Brussels Parliament in 2019, we now have 16. At this rate, David Leisterh will be Minister-President of Brussels before the 2024 elections,” jokes Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the MR.

After recruiting Brussels MP CDH Bertin Mampaka in 2020, then Défi MP Sadik Köksal in June 2023, the MR announced to La Libre the transfer of Brussels MP Ariane de Lobkowicz.

The MR becomes the leading party in Brussels

Coming in third position in the 2019 elections, the MR now constitutes, thanks to the magic of the defectors, the main political party in the Brussels Parliament (16 seats, one more than the PS and Ecolo). This will not fundamentally change the balance within the parliamentary assembly. But the MR sends a signal.

“This should allow us to have sufficient strike force to slow down, or even stop, certain projects of the Brussels government,” assures David Leisterh, group leader of the party in the Brussels Parliament.

“We are thus showing the good health of the MR, which has the best dynamics in Brussels,” adds the president. Ariane has an extremely interesting profile. She was the youngest parliamentarian in the country, at 23.”

At Défi, the Uccloise (27 years old) stood out for her involvement in the field of defending animal welfare. “It was I who tabled the Brussels ordinance proposal aimed at banning slaughter without stunning, with Jonathan de Patoul. The problem is that this subject has been exploited for religious reasons,” regrets Ariane de Lobkowicz, who defines herself as “social liberal.”

Ritual slaughter in Brussels: which MEPs voted for, once morest or abstained?

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Secularism, in the end, means little to me. This is a non-question. The topic of slaughter is important to me, but from the angle of animal cruelty. This was a purely Brussels problem and we had the power to change things. But this text was rejected by two votes, because of four people from my party (Défi) who did not support it.”

“Secularism, in the end, means little to me. This is a non-question. The theme of slaughter is important to me, but from the angle of animal cruelty, she continues. This was a purely Brussels problem and we had the power to change things. But this text was rejected by almost two votes, because of four people from my party (Défi) who did not support it… Slaughter is cruelty towards animals who asked for nothing and suffer monstrously because of electoralism.”

The young woman recognizes “her disillusionment” with the discovery, 4 years ago, of parliamentary life. She says she is convinced, despite everything, that her presence in Parliament “made it possible to advance” the cause of animal welfare.

“I have no animosity towards Défi, which gave me my chance,” she emphasizes once more. But the MR is the party that will best allow me to defend my values. At Défi, there was a lot more discussion on the issue of slaughter. And it was finally decided to give MPs the freedom to vote on a text that we had tabled. The MR adopted a clear position and did not move.”

The Liberal Party, however, did not vote as one for the ordinance prohibiting slaughter without stunning. Two of its elected officials abstained, while Sadik Koksal, recruited well following the vote, even voted once morest the text. “This point was clearly raised with Sadik. In our country, it is strictly forbidden to vote once morest this text, under penalty of exclusion,” assures Georges-Louis Bouchez.

The MR makes no secret of it: if he manages to join the next Brussels majority, he will put this text back on the table.

She “made” her seat

Beyond this issue, the MR is carrying out, with this new arrival, an interesting political operation. It will strengthen the list of the mayor of Uccle, Boris Dilliès, as well as the regional list. Because Ariane de Lobkowicz, who bears the title of princess, brings with her an appreciable network and significant electoral weight.

Elected with 2,746 votes, this computer graphics graduate created a surprise in 2019 by obtaining the 5th best score in the regional Défi list, while she only appeared in 48th position. This is more than his former group leader, Emmanuel De Bock.

The MR is also continuing its attempt to siphon off its ex-partner FDF, which now only has 9 deputies. “There is no takeover bid for Défi. Quite simply, parliamentarians are asking themselves questions, both at home and among the Engagés. But we are not doing poaching,” assures the president of the MR.

“Each time, these are people who came to contact us on their own,” adds David Leisterh.

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“Both in Flanders and in French-speaking Belgium, there are one or two parties too many, in the sense that they do not create a sufficiently strong difference with the already existing offer. Today, if we do not constitute a center-right strength at 30-35% on a regular basis, there is no possibility of structural change.”

There is no poaching, they say. But the Montois believes that, “both in Flanders and in French-speaking Belgium, there are one or two parties too many, in the sense that they do not create a sufficiently strong difference with the already existing offer”.

“I am convinced of the necessary recomposition of the political landscape,” continues Georges-Louis Bouchez. Belly dancing in front of the PS only benefits the left. The points in common between Défi and us on employment, the economy, neutrality, even mobility, are still greater than with PS and Ecolo. We are not going to overplay our differences. Today, if we do not constitute a center-right force at 30-35% on a regular basis, there is no possibility of structural change for Wallonia and Brussels.”

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2023-09-22 04:45:00
“If the MR continues to have a discourse close to the extreme right, it will be complicated to govern with them”

At the MR, we don’t take offense. And we especially point out the disconnection of the PS with the field, the neighborhoods. “Let us first remember that the Brussels Region does not belong to them,” notes the president of the Brussels MR David Leisterh. Above all, he sees it as a classic method on the part of socialists: “to discredit others so as not to talk regarding their record”.

“On Monday, they say that we are far-right, on Tuesday that we are racist, on Wednesday that it is the fault of the Swede, on Thursday, it is once more the fault of someone other and on Friday, they say nothing since they are for the four-day week…” More broadly, David Leisterh believes that the PS’s discourse on the “so-called right-wing of liberal rhetoric” comes from the fact that “we have highlighted the growing insecurity in certain Brussels neighborhoods. What everyone sees, not just the MR. Above all, I notice that the PS radar is no longer transmitting in these neighborhoods. They don’t hear the people who are suffering. For the largest party in Brussels, it is deeply worrying,” comments the Boitsfortois while recognizing that the hardening of the MR’s speech comes from a certain anger. “Every day brings more bad news. Yes, we are angry regarding the situation in Brussels. This anger sometimes translates into harsher but totally assumed words. ”

Pascal Smet: “The real problem at the Gare du Midi is the undocumented: we must expel them very actively”

“The PS is no longer a secular party”

Its party president Georges-Louis Bouchez goes in the same direction. “At the time of Jean Gol, Didier Reynders, Charles Michel, the MR was already accused of right-wing. Since we have been turning right, I think we have turned around, so we have returned to our origins.”

The Montois is especially worried regarding the communitarian policy pursued by the PS. “The Brussels PS is no longer a secular party. The communitarian line won. The last resister of neutrality in the PS is Julien Uyttendaele. And he got crossed by his party president. I am very surprised that Paul Magnette, political scientist, high-flying academic, ulbist, accepts that communitarian considerations take precedence to this extent in his party.

On this point, the MR recalls its line of conduct, “an impassable red line”, on the wearing of signs of conviction in an executive or in the administration. “There is no margin for that in our country.” Even on the stunning before the slaughter of animals, which upset all the Brussels parties last year, MR included? “The MR is the only party where no one voted once morest,” recalls David Leisterh. “At the MR, we have always had the same discourse in Uccle as in Molenbeek, Charleroi or Liège.”

The burkini authorized in the Schaerbeek swimming pool reopened from this Monday

So what regarding the many women who refuse to swim in one-piece swimsuits in Brussels swimming pools? “We must not stigmatize them,” continues David Leisterh. Which reminds us that “these women are constrained by religious regulations. Our position is to put aside all religious prescriptions. We fought for years to remove crosses from schools, the ancestors of the PS and Ecolo were at the forefront on this subject, it is not to make religious symbols reappear today.

Georges-Louis Bouchez continues: “today, we constantly make reasonable accommodations. In swimming pools, in terms of animal welfare, convictional signs. An animal welfare rule cannot bow to religion”.

Saliha Raiss, new alderman in Molenbeek: “I invite Georges-Louis Bouchez to come and have coffee with me”

“There are too many center-right parties in Belgium”

Animal welfare is precisely the credo of the latest recruit of the Brussels MR: Ariane de Lobkowicz, the youngest MP in the country and now ex-Défi. After Sadik Koksal, he is the second Défi-MR defector. From there to talking regarding a takeover bid for the Brussels party? “No,” assures Georges-Louis Bouchez. “We are not poaching and I have great respect for François De Smet and his party.” Ideas not so far from the MR, underlines the Montois, who nevertheless calls for a rebalancing of political forces.

Mercato at Défi, which is recruiting MP Emin Ozkara: “At the PS, you had to go into your community and engage in clientelism. But that’s not me.”

“The French-speaking political landscape needs a center-right force of 30-35%. Without this, no possibility of reform is possible in Brussels and Wallonia. What is the point of that, when we define ourselves as a center-right party like Défi, to supplement a PS/Ecolo majority? It is obvious that the dispersion of center-right or center forces plays into the hands of the left. We are in phase on numerous files with Défi. What differentiates the MR and Défi, or even Les Engagés, is too weak to justify systematic alliances with the PS and Ecolo.”

No (no longer) question of merger with Défi or Les Engagés, “but my conviction has not changed: there are one or two parties too many in Flanders as in French-speaking Belgium in the sense that this does not create a sufficient difference with the existing offer. This political fragmentation, especially on the French-speaking side, plays into the hands of the PS. It is not normal for parties which agree on so many points to spend their time courting the PS and Ecolo. I am convinced of a necessary recomposition of the political landscape to allow Brussels and Wallonia the reforms they need. These parties are intended, at a minimum, to join forces to try to influence issues such as the neutrality of the State, economic reform, the issue of employment, energy, mobility. ”

The annus horribilis of Georges-Louis Bouchez
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