The MR proposes Hadja Lahbib to sit on the European Commission. The MR drops Didier Reynders, who was a candidate. A choice which confirms, if it were still necessary, that Georges-Louis Bouchez calls the shots within the party.
Hadja Lahbib, yet another surprise
Wait until the last moment, build up the suspense, consult almost no one, and create a surprise effect. The designation of Hadja Lahbib as Belgian candidate for the Commission follows a pattern that has become commonplace. Commonplace and effective. In terms of the media, to create a sequence and be the centre of attention. Politically, to establish her authority within the party.
On this last point, the MR president was faced with a simple choice: choose an experienced candidate, Didier Reynders, running for a second term, or choose a new candidate of his own.
This is the second option he chose. And yet, Didier Reynders had solid arguments. He finished a very exposed mandate almost without fault. And then there is the human argument. After failing to obtain the head of the European list, after failing to obtain the presidency of the Council of Europe, Didier Reynders had only this option to, at 66 years old, continue his career.
And dad Didier Reynders
Elements that did not count against Georges-Louis Bouchez’s plans. Without pity, therefore. And yet Georges-Louis Bouchez owes everything to Didier Reynders. He is his father in politics. He is the one who gave him a leg up. He is the one who fascinated him in 2007 when he won a resounding victory in the elections. It was Charleroi’s business, it was Sarkozy’s election in France. Didier Reynders changed the party line and launched into a merciless fight against the PS. Hitting out at the socialists, assuming to be an uninhibited right. Georges-Louis Bouchez was born politically that year, thanks to Didier Reynders who showed the way to make the MR the largest French-speaking party.
However, when the Michel family forced Reynders to resign three years later, Georges-Louis Bouchez would opportunely “kill the father” and change horses. The Michels would thank him, they had given him the keys to the party and, from then on, he shaped it as he wished.
Wilmès, Borsus, Ducarme, Michel, Reynders… Those who embody the past, and a possible counter-power too, are put in golden cupboards. There are exceptions, of course, like Pierre-Yves Jeholet. Rome was not built in a day. But it is clear, the MR is becoming the party of one man, the party of Georges-Louis Bouchez. All those who wanted to play, for a time, the mother-in-law and “supervise” the young troublemaker no longer have a future. He is making a clean sweep.
Disappointed
Exit Didier Reynders, who says he is deeply disappointed. And make way for Hadja Lahbib, who will have to assert herself in a very exposed position. Prove herself, while for the past year, her record has been rather mixed at the head of Foreign Affairs. In particular her management of the sequence linked to the issuing of visas to an Iranian delegation last year. Against all logic, she will also continue to campaign for the municipal election in Schaerbeek, as her president asks her to do.
As for Charles Michel, president of the European Council for another three months, it is said that he worked behind the scenes to push Hadja Lahbib against Didier Reynders. I have no personal confirmation of this. It is also said that he hopes to land a position in the future government, a position as Minister of Foreign Affairs. I don’t know anything about that either. But in view of what I have just told you, this is not the most likely path. It is time for renewal. And Charles Michel, not even 50 years old, probably does not embody the future and power as Georges-Louis Bouchez conceives it.
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