The number 2 of the Flemish government, Hilde Crevits (CD&V), is in burnout. Very popular personality, in the North of the country (6th in our Grand Barometer), she officially communicated her withdrawal from politics for at least 4 weeks, a stop prescribed by her doctor.
The Flemish Minister of Well-being and Health, Hilde Crevits, will have to rest for another four weeks after suffering from illness on September 24, she announced in a message posted on her Instagram account on Sunday. .
“Sometimes you go too long and too deep in the red. Honestly, I thought it wouldn’t happen to me, yet?”wrote Minister CD&V.
Ms. Crevits fell ill on Saturday September 24, in the midst of negotiations on the drafting of the Flemish budget for 2023. She had been hospitalized as a precaution.
“To my great regret, I have not recovered sufficiently to return with all the energy (necessary). On the orders of my doctor, the next four weeks are entirely dedicated to a full recovery”, she said on Instagram on Sunday. The minister will be replaced during her sick leave by her colleagues Brouns and Dalle with the help of her cabinet staff.
More and more political figures affected
Until now, burnout was a fairly rare phenomenon within our political class. An emblematic case: the two months of arrest of Minister Guy Vanhengel, fifteen years ago. And that’s almost all.
Women and men politicians are often physically exhausted, but few have hitherto recognized that they need rest, and put their careers on hold, at the risk of being considered “weak”.
However, over the past two years, burnouts have become more frequent. We experienced the burnout of the ecological mayor of Forest, Stéphane Roberti. That of the deputy mayor of Bredene. The mayor of Dinant Axel Tixhon. 30 mayors in 27 municipalities resigned before halfway through their mandate, not all for burnout, but fatigue is felt among elected officials.
Repeated crises, permanent availability, insults on social networks are sometimes cited to explain this need to stop.
In France, lately, “political stars”, such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb or the Minister of Health Olivier Véran have confided that they have reached their physical limits or have needed temporarily stop work due to exhaustion.