2023-11-16 13:43:13
Why does a minister resign? Or not ?
The current legislature has experienced some upheavals at different levels of power with resignations of excellence: at the federal level (Van Quickenborne, De Bleeker, etc.) or at the regional level (Smet, Crucke, Beke, etc., in Flanders , Wallonia or Brussels).
But each resignation (and non-resignation) keeps its particular story and a logic that sometimes escapes us.
A long practice
Without going back to the resignations of socialist ministers Dubois and Anseele, just 50 years ago, following the“Baudrin affair” or the non-resignation of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb following the “Heysel drama” (1985), successive governments will have practically all been confronted with the question of the resignation of one of their own.
Each time, it is the legitimacy of the minister to exercise his function that is called into question. Some resign without even waiting to be asked, like Johan Vande Lanotte following the escape of Marc Dutroux or very recently Vincent Van Quickenborne. In these two cases, the minister will not have committed any fault himself, but assumes responsibility for the failure of part of his services.
Conversely, last June, Minister Hadja Lahbib, supported by her party alone, considered that she should not be responsible for issuing a visa to the controversial mayor of Tehran by her services.
Resignation remains a personal but also partisan question.
Pression
Unless there is an instant resignation, the pressure becomes almost irresistible. Recently, at the federal level, both Sarah Schlitz and Eva De Bleeker were able to experience this. A new element that contradicts the established line of defense generally constitutes the tipping point.
Minister Lahbib was faced with a similar situation but her party president made it a question of government survival and the neo-minister was able to maintain her position.
Following the discovery of PFAS in tap water, Walloon Minister Céline Tellier finds herself in the hot seat. Breaches have been established. Does she have any responsibilities in these? What political conclusions should we draw from this?
Because if publicly, at this time, no one is formally asking for his resignation, it is clearly in people’s minds.
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#delicate #art #resignation #politics
