The two big winners of the elections on the French-speaking side have united their destinies: the MR and Les Engagés want to form “Azur” (blue and turquoise) majorities in Wallonia and in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Georges-Louis Bouchez, the liberal president, and Maxime Prévot, the president of the Engagés, strike quickly and hard in order to set up the future executives. From this Monday, meetings with “civil society” will follow one another at a hectic pace.
Voka consultation
A sign ? The first guests are representatives of employers’ organizations: Walloon Business Union, Belgian Business Federation, UCM, etc. Even Flemish companies, via Voka, are invited by the MR and Engagés co-formators with a view to drafting future government agreements. After this first round of discussion on Monday, the employer federations will give way to the unions.
Concretely, until Thursday June 27, the two party presidents will listen, within of 25 thematic consultation platforms, representatives of the driving forces of civil society as well as economic, social, health, sporting, cultural actors and various segments active within Wallonia and the Federation on a daily basis (the partners social, market and non-market sectors).
Alongside these consultations, technical working groups, involving experts, parliamentarians and collaborators, will meet over the coming weeks. They will co-draft the Regional Policy Declaration and the Community Policy Declaration under the supervision of Georges-Louis Bouchez and Maxime Prévot.
The “sherpas” of presidents
Who will be the “sherpas” of the two presidents, that is to say the closest advisors who will discreetly accompany them in this work? Here are some names. On the MR side, we will find Axel Miller (chief of staff of the MR and former boss of Dexia and D’Ieteren), Valentine Delwart (general secretary), Frédéric Maghe (deputy chief of staff to the party), Jolan Vereecke (advisor special from “GLB”), John Hendrickx (Dutch-speaking spokesperson) and Qassem Fosseprez (French-speaking spokesperson, he coordinates MR communication).
At Les Engagés, the team of “sherpas” is of the same size: Stéphane Nicolas, Maxime Prévot’s chief of staff. He will coordinate the negotiations in collaboration with Audrey Jacquiez, the movement’s spokesperson. We also find Elisabeth Degryse (political secretary of the Engagés and former vice-president of the Christian Mutuality), Laurent de Briey (president of the party’s study center); Mathieu Perin, strategic advisor and Patrick van Ypersele, political secretary of the federal parliamentary group.
The MR and Les Engagés created a surprise and won the electoral battle hands down
Inheritance tax reform
Finally, in terms of content, the blues and the amaranths confirmed this weekend their intention to reform inheritance taxes in Wallonia. As a reminder, inheritance taxes have different rates depending on the amounts and the degree of relationship. The highest rate is set at 80%, for amounts above 75,000 euros on inheritances excluding spouses, cohabitants, children in the direct line, brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces. According to Willy Borsus (MR), interviewed on RTL on Sunday, the current system will be transformed into a “right of transmission” whose rate could be 5%. The measure will be subject to negotiation within a more global framework.
