The Liberal Party president was questioned about the difficulties encountered by Julie Taton in getting the Mons administration to recognise that her main residence was indeed located in Mons. The affair is highly political since, without recognition of this domicile, the MP from Lasne cannot legally run on the municipal lists in Mons. Clearly irritated by the importance given to this affair by the press and local authorities, Georges-Louis Bouchez lit a counter-fire by drawing a comparison between the management of this case and that of the travelling people.
“When I saw the proportions it was taking, I wondered a little what”: Julie Taton speaks for the first time about not being domiciled in Mons
“I am proud to have brought Julie Taton to Mons. If we have profiles of people who are successful, who have a positive visibility for the city… I prefer to welcome Julie Taton to Mons than certain profiles… I will not dwell on the subject. But when you still see illegal occupations by travellers – I have nothing against travellers – but when I see that in Mons travellers are illegally occupying certain land and the City tells you “we don’t know how to do anything” […] and besides that, you have someone who comes to Mons, who has purchasing power, who pays taxes, who enrolls his children in school and who wants to buy a home and then, he is put on trial as if he were a criminal, I find that unacceptable.”
These statements did not fail to provoke a reaction.And in an unlikely comparison we discover a common ground between Rousseau and Bouchez: attacking travellers”for example tweeted Zakia Khattabi (Ecolo), federal Minister of Climate, referring to the racist remarks made by the former and new president of Vooruit, Conner Rousseau, in September 2023.
“Pointing the finger at minorities, creating categories and classifications between citizens, this is not new… and it is still just as dangerous for a society and its social cohesion. The pursuit of the objective of equality between citizens deserves much better”regretted Marie-Colline Leroy (Ecolo), Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities.
“It is very inappropriate for a party president not to know the situation of travellers and to make comments such as his.”reacted Etienne Charpentier, president of the National Committee of Travelers.Our children also go to school. We are people who work. We pay our contributions and our road taxes. On the question of reception, it is rather up to us to say that the authorities really take us for criminals. Every time we arrive somewhere, all the police forces are there. This is pure discrimination. It is time that Mr. Bouchez could let the travelers live their lives in freedom and as full citizens.”
Georges-Louis Bouchez on Conner Rousseau’s racist remarks: “If it were me, I would have already jumped out the window”
The Travellers’ Committee hoped that the new government would listen to them more. Etienne Charpentier points out that Belgium was condemned in 2012 by the European Committee of Social Rights (a legal instrument of the Council of Europe) for its lack of reception of Travellers.If people settle anywhere, it is not our fault. It is because the municipalities do not offer us a place to settle. We constantly experience this humiliation. It is time for Georges-Louis Bouchez to have more friendly and cordial words towards our community. Instead of making these hateful remarks, he should show wisdom and moderation. Travelers are educated people, we must stop considering them as less than nothing.”
The lack of a reception area is the first point that Unia raises when we ask about the liberal’s remarks. The centre for equal opportunities has long been calling for structural policies for travellers. If the presence of the Roma provokes reactions even in politics, it is first and foremost “because those in charge do not take sufficient responsibility”underlines Patrick Charlier, president of the association, who recalls that Belgium has been singled out several times for the lack of facilities intended for nomadic communities.
If Conner Rousseau had been French-speaking, he would never have held his position for so long.
For Patrick Charlier, Georges-Louis Bouchez’s remarks are not against the law. On a legal level, this is not a case of ordinary racism, as was observed with Conner Rousseau.This is not a form of incitement to hatred, but it is a stigmatization of travelers. We know that this is a group that is the subject of negative prejudices. This kind of remark contributes to fueling the stigmatization of people who already have difficulty being recognized, who experience problems related to the schooling of their children as well as access to health care. Rather than stigmatizing them, we could have expected him to take initiatives to help them.”
“If they settle in places without authorization, it is because they have no choice. It is always a real struggle when they travel to Belgium and want to settle down to spend the winter. The first question to ask, now that the liberals are in power, is what initiatives they are going to take to help them rather than stigmatize them. In Namur, Mayor Maxime Prévot [actuellement médiateur pour le gouvernement fédéral, NdlR] opened a field to accommodate itinerant populations.”
Asked about his comments made at the press conference and the reactions they provoked, Georges-Louis Bouchez describes a reversal of the burden. In his eyes, the injured parties are first and foremost the owners of the land occupied by these itinerant groups and not the other way around. “This is a specific case. These travellers came to settle on the private land of a friend. The city’s response was to say that we don’t know how to do anything. It is strange that they don’t know how to respect your private property…”
On why he branched off from the Taton topic to the Rom topic, he says: “I am surprised by the zeal of the Mons police in relation to Julie Taton when we have lots of undocumented immigrants and social fraud everywhere. If the police were as zealous in tackling really problematic cases, there would be less social fraud and undocumented immigrants. But it is not the fault of the police. There is manipulation by those in power [le bourgmestre de Mons, Nicolas Martin, est socialiste, NdlR].”
To address the problem of illegally occupied land, he recommends ““more severity and more police presence”. On the way he raised the issue at the press conference, he defends himself against veering towards discrimination.I prioritize two behaviors. I distinguish between the attitude of people who are going to pay taxes and that of people who are going to occupy land illegally. I am only mentioning the difficulties that hundreds of our fellow citizens experience on a daily basis.”
