2023-12-28 06:31:00
An intermittent from the ministry, in a way. Marie-Martine Schyns says of herself that she was an “interim” minister. Twice, she was brought into the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (or French Community) during the legislature, when no one expected it.
July 4, 2013. The Minister of Education, Marie-Dominique Simonet (of the CDH, now Les Engagés), announces that she has cancer and resigns to take care of her. “At the time, I was a federal deputy,” recalls Marie-Martine Schyns. We learned the news on a Thursday, the day of plenary session in Parliament. The whole group was dejected. I have always really appreciated Marie-Do. Directly, some say: ‘We will have to replace it’. For me, it doesn’t tilt. I was a young parliamentarian, I had not thought further.”
Marie-Martine Schyns was presented to the press on July 6, 2013 as Marie-Dominique Simonet’s replacement as Minister of Education. ©Photo News
”On Friday, around 2 p.m., Benoît Lutgen (then president of the CDH) called me and asked me to come to his house in Bastogne. I tell him that I suppose it’s to talk about the replacement of Marie-Do, the fact that a Liégeoise is needed for the position (due to internal balances in the party Editor’s note), but I ask if we can discuss it by telephone because Friday is the only day I pick up my daughters from school. But Benoît said to me: ‘Marie, I think you don’t understand me well. I don’t want to discuss a woman from Liège with you. I want you to come to Bastogne. There, the franc begins to fall slowly,” she laughs today.
Joëlle Milquet, option number 1
”I called my husband, who said to me: ‘Marie, didn’t you yet understand that it was possible that he would offer you the job?’ In fact, I hadn’t put myself in that perspective at all. My vocation, since I was little, was to be a French teacher. I always wanted to do this. It so happened that in 2000, I was asked to present myself on a list, because I was involved in the association in Herve, and I found myself an alderman on the first try. But I had no career plan in politics. Becoming a minister had never occurred to me.”
Never mind. This Friday July 5, 2013, she is heading to Bastogne. The interview lasts about half an hour, recalls Ms. Schyns. Benoît Lutgen tells him that there are two options for the succession of Marie-Dominique Simonet. The first one : Joëlle Milquet, who “always dreamed of having Education”. The former party president has priority. But she already holds important positions, those of Federal Vice-Prime and Minister of the Interior, and must notably manage the succession of King Albert II. If Joëlle Milquet remains at the Interior, the second option is Marie-Martine Schyns.
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I thought of my former professor colleagues. I told myself that I had no right to make the slightest mistake, otherwise I would receive phone calls…
”I admit that I was surprised because there were people from Liège who could have taken the position, including Vanessa Matz, a hard worker. But Benoît told me: ‘I want someone who is efficient straight away, who knows the world of school. You are a teacher, you know all these barbaric teaching terms, you are the one we want to trust.”
At her cousin’s birthday party
Leaving Bastogne, nothing has been done yet. The president of the CDH indicates that the question will be decided in the evening and that a press conference will take place on Saturday, at 10 a.m., in Brussels, to present the new minister.
”That Friday evening, I had my cousin’s birthday. A big party. Around 10 p.m., still no news. I tell myself that nothing is going to happen. Midnight: I have a phone call from Benoît. ‘We’re expecting you tomorrow at 10 o’clock. Well, at midnight, I had already celebrated my cousin’s birthday, remembers, amused, the centrist elected official. When I hang up with Benoît, my cousin, who is a teacher, says to me: ‘Something is happening. You are going to become Minister of Education!’ And the owner of the establishment we were in put out champagne for everyone.”
Marie-Martine Schyns: “I have a visceral connection with teaching”
Marie-Martine Schyns was sworn in on July 17, 2013. “I thought of my former professor colleagues. I told myself that I had no right to make the slightest mistake, otherwise I would receive phone calls…” That said, at that time, there were only ten months before the elections. “It was an interim for the end of the legislature. The team in place at the office was excellent and Marie-Do had restored trust with the world of teaching. This last year has gone well.”
Immediately put out the fire
April 11, 2016. Thunderclap in the political sky. Joëlle Milquet, Minister of Education and Culture since July 2014, announces her resignation due to her indictment for illegal taking of interest (the case has still not been judged to date). His skills are divided into two. Alda Greoli, then chief of staff of Walloon Minister Maxime Prévot, took over Culture. While Marie-Martine Schyns returns to the Ministry of Education, less than two years after leaving it.
Indicted, Joëlle Milquet resignsThe president of the CDH Benoit Lutgen announces the appointment of Marie-Martine Schyns and Alda Greoli. ©Photo News
As much as the arrival of the first is a surprise, the return of the second was expected. “We know why I didn’t continue in 2014,” explains Hervienne. It had always been said that if we could have Education, it would be for Joëlle. It has always been very clear and I have defended this choice. Just as many defended the fact that, if it wasn’t Joëlle, it was me.” Here she is again, this time, for three years of legislature. And a juggernaut to land: the Pact for Teaching Excellence, an in-depth reform of French-speaking education.
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When I arrived in Liège, there was all the old guard of the FGTB Enseignement who were overexcited. These are moments that I will not forget. And finally, it’s okay, I’ve never had tomatoes on me.”
”The dynamic was in place. The machine began to produce the list of measurements. And two or three days after my arrival, opinion number 2 (of the committee responsible for writing the Pact, Editor’s note) comes out in the press. The headlines were: ‘Your children will stay at school until 6:30 p.m.’, ‘Repetition will be banned’. My first week, I spent debunking everything that was falsely said about the Pact.”
The lack of support from the PS
”This opinion number 2, I discovered it. It was not the minister or the cabinet who wrote it. It came from the actors of the central group of the Pact – organizing powers, unions and parents’ associations. We might as well tell you that before the release of opinion number 3, we told the actors that we wanted to see it in order to be able to prepare the communication,” smiles the former minister.
Marie-Martine Schyns, the teacher who returns to the ministry
”The Pact of Excellence, I have not written a single line of it. Neither does Joëlle Milquet. It was collective work and we had to make it our own. Every week, I went to explain in the field, in front of hundreds of people, what the Pact was. I have visited all the provinces, all the districts. I was wondering if I was going to get any tomatoes.”
”The Pact, today, is long-term. Even the MR took it when he entered the government (of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Editor’s note) in 2019, whereas before, he took aim at everything. Ecolo liked certain measures, but, with the management plan, he felt that ‘the right’ was entering the world of school. But worst of all, I couldn’t really count on my socialist colleagues (CDH partners in the majority, Editor’s note). Minister-President Rudy Demotte (PS) has always defended the Pact. But when I arrived in Liège, there was all the old guard of the FGTB Enseignement who were overexcited. These are moments that I will not forget, concludes Ms. Schyns. And finally, it’s okay, I’ve never had tomatoes on me.”
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