Melissa Depraetere, the current president of Vooruit, said in the Tijd on Saturday that she hoped that Georges-Louis Bouchez, the president of the MR, would become Walloon Minister-President. For what ? Because, according to her, the boss of the liberals “is a character who cannot be trusted”. With a touch of condescension, she added: “So, (sent to Namur, Editor’s note) we will be rid of him and he won’t even have to learn Dutch.”
After a month at the head of Vooruit, Melissa Depraetere proves that she is not a simple “baby Conner Rousseau”
“Diametrically opposed programs”
And on the merits? The president of the Flemish socialists pretends to reject the “Arizona” scenario discussed behind the scenes at the federal level. “We see that the parties invited to the negotiating table have diametrically opposed programs. The N-VA and MR want to save billions on health care. For us, it is totally excluded”, she insists in the same interview.
However, this would only be a very classic negotiating posture. Simulating reluctance and allowing yourself to be desired allows you to begin real discussions from a position of strength. For several years now, rumors have suggested that the N-VA and Vooruit are preparing to govern together.
Are you left or right? Tocqueville will help you find out
Furthermore, Melissa Depraetere, during the electoral campaign, distanced herself from the PS. A few days before the elections, the leader of the Flemish socialists announced that she was ready to join a majority without Paul Magnette’s party… An outing which may have been surprising. In order to justify herself, she mentioned the differences existing between the two groups, particularly with regard to the reluctance of French-speaking socialists to put long-term sick people back to work.
Vooruit in the center
Just like Conner Rousseau, to whom she should soon cede the presidency of the party, Melissa Depraetere says she is in favor of a “modern socialism”. Although they share the same headquarters on Boulevard de l’Empereur in Brussels, the socialists from the north and south of the country have, over time, become two very different parties. For political scientist Pascal Delwit (ULB), interviewed in The Free a little over a year ago, “Vooruit is a centrist party” compared to French-speaking parties. “The PS remains very anchored on social issues – salaries, pensions, working conditions, etc. – while Vooruit, already at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, has changed focus and electoral profile. It is less profiled than the PS on the social question”, added the academic.
How the PS and Vooruit have become two very different parties over the past 20 years
