“Minister Jean-Luc Crucke invites you to take stock of the work of the past few weeks and invites you to a back-to-school press meeting”. It is with this mysterious sentence that the Walloon Minister of the Budget unexpectedly invited the press on Monday morning.
It was a thunderclap: the Walloon Minister MR of the Budget resigns. En December, his tax reform project encountered opposition from the President of the MR, Georges-Louis Bouchez. “I will draw the conclusions”, then announced Jean-Luc Crucke.
GL Bouchez and JL Crucke side by side at a press conference
It was accompanied by his party president, Georges-Louis Bouchez, that Jean-Luc Crucke explained to the press the reasons why he is leaving his post as minister. It is the differences of opinion around tax reform that are the cause. “The political tension brought about by the fairer tax decree led me to a very simple conclusion. I love my Region, and I serve it with loyalty. My convictions, which, make no mistake, are liberal convictions, however, are no longer fully in line with my party line. It’s a reality, not a regret “, explained the resigned Minister MR.
“I have always had opinions which were qualified as” on the margins “within my political formation, in particular at the climatic, migratory, energy level, but also, and now also, fiscal. Until now, that was also my But this now puts my party, but also by ricochet the government majority, sometimes in difficulty “, estimated Jean-Luc Crucke who wishes not to slow down government work.
In the December episode where the tax reform project crystallized the debates, “we no longer spoke of the background”, estimated Jean-Luc Crucke. “My personality weighed heavily in this excitement”, he added. And to specify that, “this text, a fairer tax, was, according to all experts, not a revolution, just a necessary text which adhered, in particular, to federal provisions. It is healthy for the fiscal equality of all our fellow citizens and respects the will of the legislator “.
According to Jean-Luc Crucke, this episode around the tax reform eclipsed other p important points of the Walloon Budget. “NOTIn the end, we did not talk enough about the essentials: a 2022 budget with efforts of 150 million per year (cumulative) to be made, very important decisions for Charleroi airport which were generally overlooked … In short, it’s not normal”, he added.
The president of the MR had known since January 3
It was Monday January 3 that Jean-Luc Crucke handed in his resignation to his party president, Georges-Louis Bouchez. Last Thursday, January 6, the two men met at Jean-Luc Crucke’s. “NWe chatted, very frankly, calmly and in a good mood. I explained to him that I did not want the texts carried by “Jean-Luc” to become a source of tension, not on the substance, but on the form “, explained Jean-Luc Crucke.” He did nothing to me. asked, I made my decision on my own, without any external pressure “, he clarified.
Absolute secrecy had to be respected to this day. Walloon Minister-President Elio Di Rupo was warned this Monday morning, January 10. Those affected by this decision, including members of Minister Crucke’s cabinet, have also been notified. “The surprise was sizeable”, explained the minister. He also specified that members of the cabinet who wish to remain in office will be able to do so, “in order to continue the continuity of work”. “I have always recruited on the basis of skills, and only those skills. It is not my cabinet, it is that of all citizens “, added Jean-Luc Crucke.
Head of the Constitutional Court
Jean-Luc Crucke, jurist by training, lawyer, will be the candidate of the MR to become a judge at the Constitutional Court. This is the proposal that Georges-Louis Bouchez made to the resigning Walloon minister. “This position has always tempted me, I had spoken about it in 2019 with him, we do not erase 30 years of law. But my ministerial mandate obscured this possibility “, said Jean-Luc Crucke.
However, the appointment to the Constitutional Court is not immediately. “The decision should nevertheless fall at the end of the first half of 2022. I have met magistrates, I have studied the possibilities and I am sure that I will be able to exercise a role that suits me, always in the service of democracy”, explained Jean-Luc Crucke who also says he has other projects: teaching, writing, crossing Iran on foot, for example.
“The best decision of my life”.
“I have always been convinced that there is life before politics and there is life after politics”, estimated Jean-Luc Crucke. He explained that he did not regret his choice. “One of my children told me yesterday that I had made the best decision of my life”, he confided.
Who will be the new Walloon Budget Minister?
Who will succeed Jean-Luc Crucke? The President of the MR, Georges-Louis Bouchez explained that the answer will be communicated on Tuesday. “You will be informed tomorrow (Tuesday) morning on the name of the person who will succeed Jean-Luc Crucke”, did he declare. The successor will take office next Wednesday at the latest. Indeed, Jean-Luc Crucke remains in office until the meeting of the Walloon Government scheduled for Thursday.
As for the successor of Jean-Luc Crucke, he should take over all the skills of the Walloon Minister of the Budget. “No unraveling of skills, no one has time to play sorcerer’s apprentice “, said Jean-Luc Crucke.