The President of the Walloon Parliament Jean-Claude Marcourt specified on Tuesday that he would resign from his post as soon as the transition has been carried out, a necessary transition so as not to block the activities of the assembly as the parliamentary week of the votes of the Region’s 2023 budget.
“We are going to organize the transition, but as soon as it is done, I will resign from my position as president”, confirmed Mr. Marcourt (PS) on the airwaves of Bel-RTL. “I have to see with the clerk the conditions under which we can ensure the continuity of parliament, and organize the meetings which must take place next week. We should not put a blockage, or cacophony, because we vote the 2023 budget next week”.
Jean-Claude Marcourt announced Monday his next resignation provided that the entire Bureau of the Parliament of Wallonia also takes a step aside. Sophie Pécrials (PS) had anticipated this announcement on Friday, while Manu Disabato (Ecolo) followed it, not without having first given an ultimatum to Mr. Marcourt. MR members, Jacqueline Galant and Sybille de Coster-Bauchau, should do the same under the terms of the communication from their party president who mentioned Monday evening a renewal of the Bureau, but no official confirmation was made at party headquarters. Mr. Marcourt justifies the resignation of the Bureau of Parliament by the emotion aroused. “I found that we had completely left reason for emotion, and that the positioning game of the parties was detrimental to the institution. To bring back serenity, it was better for the Bureau to leave”. He rejects any personal or collective fault.
What to remember from his interview on the airwaves of Bel-RTL? Our political journalist Antonio Solimando delivered his analysis in RTL INFO 13H. “Basically, he does not assume fault, and a kind of feeling of injustice results from it. He obviously did not take the measure of the earthquake which had surrounded this affair. He is not pleading guilty since he does not recognize any error. But he does not assume any responsibilities either. In this context, he places the blame on his predecessors. However, as President of Parliament, he should not feel responsible since there is a control in relation to the clerk, in relation to the various expenses that were incurred and the various privileges. Admittedly, Jean-Claude Marcourt did not validate these privileges, but as President of Parliament, he was directly responsible for them. of this earthquake, we felt him emotionally touched. We know him a little boxer, and here, he was rather KO. There was tremolo in his voice. In the past, we know that he resisted storms much more important. One thinks of the Publifin affair, where his relationship with Stéphane Moreau penalized for years. Here the wave was much weaker. We thought it was unsinkable, but this wave was faster and took it away.”
Jean-Claude Marcourt ended his interview with this sentence: “I resigned. So I will now be able to open it…”
Are these threats? Against who?
“It’s bitterness vis-à-vis the leadership of his party, the PS”, tell Antonio Solimando “He did not tell us verbatim, but formally, we understand that he did not feel sufficiently supported in this affair. There was a change of foot of the president of the PS in 24 hours, between Thursday and Friday He was covering it up and then he called for his resignation. It is probably in this context that he is now free, and that he is a “simple deputy”, he will be able to regain his freedom of tone. That’s a bit like that it should be understood. The rest of Jean-Claude Marcourt’s career is clearly laid down. The role of deputy is the first time he will assume it. The rest of his career, after the parliamentary holidays, will clearly arise.”