2023-11-07 20:30:04
Update
07 November 2023
21:30
Gwendolyn Rutten replaces Bart Somers as Deputy Minister-President and Minister of Internal Affairs in the Flemish government led by Jan Jambon.
Former president of the Open VLD, Gwendolyn Rutten, succeeds Bart Somers in the Flemish government after the latter unexpectedly announced on Monday that he was resigning from his post as Flemish Minister of Internal Affairs, Administration, Integration and Equal Opportunities. He will resume his functions as mayor of Mechelen. During the day on Tuesday, we learned that the race for succession was between the President of the Senate, Stephanie D’Hose, to Flemish MP Gwendolyn Rutten. The choice therefore fell on the latter.
The decision of the party leadership and of Ms Rutten herself is striking. Last month, she was again mentioned as a candidate to succeed Vincent Van Quickenborne as federal Minister of Justice. The position was ultimately awarded to Paul Van Tigchelt, after which Ms Rutten announced that she would no longer stand for election on a national list. In a lengthy post on social media, she wrote that she felt she had been treated in a disrespectful manner.
“I’m only human”
“I have to listen to my own heart. Maybe I reacted too hard two weeks ago, but I’m also only human. I honestly said how I felt.” It is in these terms that Gwendolyn Rutten justified her return to the national political scene this Tuesday evening, during a press conference.
“It was a difficult moment, because I thought I could no longer have an impact in politics.”
The new Minister Open Vld says she is well aware of the contrast with her comments made two weeks ago. “If you had told me a few days ago that I would be sitting here, I wouldn’t have believed it,” she said. “I was disappointed a few weeks ago. It was a difficult moment, because I thought I could no longer have an impact in politics. This is why I chose to do something else with my life, alongside my position as mayor of Aarschot.”
Gwendolyn Rutten had already made this choice concrete and planned to go into teaching. “I was considering it until I got a phone call Monday night, and my life was turned upside down,” she added. “I can imagine there are a lot of people who don’t understand why I wanted to leave national politics in the first place and see me sitting here. I only have one thing to say: it’s life. If you want to have an impact, you take responsibility if you are asked to do so.”
“We must not procrastinate, we went through a difficult period two weeks ago.”
This commitment will continue after the elections. The new minister will draw the Open Vld regional list in Flemish Brabant. Party president Tom Ongena admitted on Tuesday that the problems had to be ironed out. “We must not procrastinate, we went through a difficult period two weeks ago,” he said. “But it shows that Gwendolyn is someone who is there when Flanders needs her.”
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