2023-09-12 04:31:00
It is difficult to describe the reaction of the French-speaking parties as a surprise. PS, MR, Écolo and Les Engagés reject Bart De Wever’s proposal. Sunday, during his party’s back-to-school congress, the president of the N-VA pleaded for the rapid formation, after the June 2024 elections, of a restricted federal government (“kernkabinet” in Dutch) supported by the federated entities and responsible for managing socio-economic issues. This particular government period would be used to implement confederalism.
“The confederalism of the N-VA is completely clear, I congratulate Bart De Wever”
This is not the first time he has expressed this idea. But no more than in the past, it does not convince French-speaking presidents. “It does not mean anything. It is better to extend the government in current affairs (resigned, Editor’s note),” reacts sharply Paul Magnette, president of the PS. “For Écolo,” said its co-president Jean-Marc Nollet, “there is no question of having a federal government on the cheap. And as far as confederalism is concerned, it will be without us.”
The extralegal route
“How is Bart De Wever’s proposal interesting since it does not receive a parliamentary majority…?” asks Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the MR. State reform requires special majorities in parliament (two-thirds majority, plus a majority in each linguistic group) which seem difficult to obtain on election night, given the forces present. “Politics is mathematics. The challenge is to have a majority in parliament. Until you have that, everything else is philosophy.”
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We must avoid falling into the same trap at each election by constantly reacting to the N-VA’s outbidding. We know his aspirations. They are not ours.
Faced with this difficulty in gathering a majority behind his confederal project, Bart De Wever estimated, at the beginning of January, that it would undoubtedly be necessary to go through the extra-legal route. But “in a democracy like ours,” answers Georges-Louis Bouchez, “there is only one way, and that is the parliamentary way.”
Sander Loones (N-VA): “Belgium is a handicap for Wallonia”
“I think that we must avoid falling into the same trap at each election by constantly reacting to the outbidding of the N-VA,” said Maxime Prévot, president of Les Engagés. We know his aspirations. They are not ours. Confederalism is the last worry of the Belgians. I am pleading for the rapid formation of a government, quite simply, capable of getting its hands dirty with the reforms that our country and its inhabitants need: health, purchasing power, taxation, pensions, well-being. , justice, security policy, etc. Let us not waste time and energy on institutional discussions, unless we really want to improve the effectiveness of public action rather than unraveling it.”
The specter of the far right
In short, and this is not new, Bart De Wever has no allies on the French-speaking side to establish confederalism in Belgium. “Until the elections, […] I think that no one is going to speak out for a major reform of the State or for confederalism in the South, he admitted, Monday morning, on La Première (RTBF). But the day after the elections, we will see, because in the polls, it is still clear that most Flemish people will vote against the system, will vote for change, even unfortunately for many of them for the res- le-bol (that is to say for the extreme right, Editor’s note). And we cannot neglect that, we cannot continue the status quo.”
Bart De Wever at La Libre: “If you don’t like me, look who will come after me…”
According to him, the French-speakers will have no other choice but to negotiate with the N-VA, otherwise, he thinks, they will have to deal next time with the extreme right, while the Vlaams Belang is at the head of all polls in Flanders. “It is better to sit down at the table to negotiate this inevitable development for our country […] in an orderly manner, to avoid a moment of political chaos,” concluded Mr. De Wever, repeating his message delivered to La Libre at the beginning of September.
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