“It’s true that there have been rumorshe says today. But it was never on the agenda before Benoît spoke to me about it at the end of 2018. People often told me: “When it’s no longer Benoît, it makes sense for you to introduce yourself.” But it was never a question of forcing things. When Benoît left, it was his decision.”
But why was it so obvious that he would one day become president of the CDH, which became Les Engagés in March 2022? Because“he embodies the image of renewal”. Because he is “intelligent”“worker”“formidable negotiator”they say indiscriminately. Because it is “nice”with great bursts of laughter, as comfortable in a football bar or a wine tasting – not stingy with tours – as in a circle of entrepreneurs or in front of an audience of students. Because“he is as popular inside the party as outside, capable of uniting”. Because, from his first steps in politics, “we saw that he had something more than the others”. Because he is “the best of us”will one day summarize the former CDH minister, Melchior Wathelet.
Maxime Prévot, the folk dancer who became a Walloon minister
SMS messages of anger
A political opponent also describes him as “loyal”very respectful of the word given. “I attach great importance to trust”, said the person concerned. Also, he had difficulty having to abandon the mayor’s office of Namur in 2014 when he was appointed Walloon minister, even though he had promised his constituents to stay in place.
Likewise, when he discovered in 2020 that the president of the MR, Georges-Louis Bouchez, revealed an exchange of SMS that they had about the formation of the federal government of the time, it remained in his way. the throat. “Time has done its work. I dare to hope that it was an isolated incident.”says Maxime Prévot, who is now negotiating with the liberal the formation of governments in Wallonia, the French Community and at the federal level.I told Georges-Louis that we will succeed or fail together. I hope we can work with trust and honesty.”
Finally, last but no least, the president of the Engagés enjoys a solid electoral base, initially built in his city of Namur, which he loves passionately. He has been mayor since March 2012, propelled by Jacques Étienne, who then held the position. Twelve years later, he still holds the keys to the city, which he has transformed with endless projects. “Maxime is the only one who has a complete view of the development of the city. If he were to disappear, I don’t know how we would cope.”said an oil from Namur, some time ago.
After the city, Maxime Prévot has conquered its crown and its large periphery, and now the entire province. In the federal elections of June 9, he obtained 47,359 preferential votes, making him the second most popular personality in the country (in penetration rate at the federal level), behind the president of the N-VA Bart De Wever. He took his party from third to first place in his constituency in the province of Namur, going from 17% in 2019 to 29% in 2024.
The seeds of refoundation
In November-December 2018, its time has finally come. Benoît Lutgen said to Maxime Prévot during a meeting in Marche-en-Famenne: “You have to take over.” The Bastognard knows that his presidency is running out of steam, that his authority is fading, that the overthrow of the majority in the Walloon Region, mid-2017, by which he put the PS in opposition for the benefit of the MR, is appreciated differently – mild understatement… He also has health problems. In short, according to him, it is necessary “an electroshock” (term popular among centrists) to relaunch the party in view of the May 2019 elections. Maxime Prévot accepts the challenge.
The overhaul will not be without its difficulties. A series of developments are making CDH representatives nervous. But Maxime Prévot is staying the course.
The electroshock does not take place. The defeat is stinging. In five months, Maxime Prévot had to create the electoral lists, finalize the program, develop a campaign strategy… A challenge. “The campaign lacked professionalism and I myself probably lacked confidence in the election debates.”he confesses today. In this context, he is not held responsible for the electoral rout.
When he took over the party, he was “already convinced that the message needed to be renewed”. Besides, Benoît Lutgen didn’t think anything else. He had maneuvered behind the scenes with Jean-Michel Javaux, the former president of Écolo, to launch E-Change. This platform bringing together personalities from the CDH, civil society and, to a lesser extent, the PS, Ecolo and Défi, was supposed to transcend political divisions. The project will only last two years. But the seeds of refoundation have been planted.
Here is E-Change, this new French-speaking party is being prepared discreetly
The hope that tomorrow will be nice
On May 27, 2019, the day after the elections, the CDH party office decided, without much surprise, to go into opposition everywhere. It is time for reconstruction.E-Change? We talked about it a bit with Benoît, but it was the scale of the electoral defeat that was the electroshock.says Maxime Prévot. I said to myself: it’s now or never. We can launch a profound renewal, made possible by the opposition.” The process will be labeled “It will be sunny tomorrow”. The philosopher Laurent de Briey, already involved in E-Change and in the transformation of the PSC into CDH in 2002, will be its mentor.
How the CDH wants to succeed in its refoundation
The refoundation was to last nine months, it will last two years, due to the Covid pandemic. “Ultimately, this allowed for a much deeper and more comprehensive overhaul.” Maxime Prévot is personally involved in writing the new manifesto. He reads a lot. One book leaves its mark on him: “Le Courage de la nuance” by Jean Birnbaum. He is building an ideological framework, which he probably lacked until now.
Maxime Prévot, “common sense” cannot lie
But the refoundation will not be without pain. A series of developments are making many CDH representatives nervous: the abandonment of Christian personalism, dear to the CDH, to replace it with the notion of “regeneration” imagined by the former spokesperson Alain Raviart; certain proposals, such as the establishment of a single education network; questions of inclusion in Brussels, crystallized around the wearing of the veil and ritual slaughter…
Between authority and authoritarianism
“The process aroused a lot of fear. A majority of my parliamentarians were doubtful. I experienced periods where I felt a little alonesmiles Maxime Prévot. Some people were afraid that the process would make us even more fragile. It is healthy and logical to have such doubts.” In June 2022, three months after the launch congress of the Engagés, a poll placed the party at 8.8% in Wallonia.I wondered whether I should resign to provoke an electroshock, starting from the principle that, visibly, my renewal operation had not yet convinced…”
But he stays the course, adapts when necessary, imposes himself when he considers it necessary. With authority? Certainly. Authoritarianism? He is sometimes criticized for this in Namur. Also within his party.
On June 20, for example, he announced that Les Engagés was leaving the European People’s Party (EPP) to join the Renew group in which the MR sits in the European Parliament. This transfer had been painfully approved three days earlier by the party office… During this office, he launched, in substance: “This debate reminds me of the eve of the name change at Tour et Taxi (the Engagés launch congress in March 2022, Editor’s note). Some people told me I was wrong. And yet I was right.” The argument of authority and the way in which the move to Renew was carried out have offended more than one Committed.
The Engagés leave the European People’s Party to join Renew, where the MR already sits. This decision is not unanimous internally
No feeling, it’s time for change
“Maxime knows how to be a cold-blooded animal”, says someone who knows him well. When a whole series of outgoing deputies (Catherine Fonck, Georges Dallemagne, Céline Fremault, André Antoine, René Collin, etc.) announced before the elections that they would not run again, Maxime Prévot did not try to retain them. For him, it is clear that the refoundation can only be successful if it is embodied by new people.
“I told my parliamentarians at the beginning of 2020 that we would not be credible if we put the same heads of list back in the next election”assumes the president of the Engagés. He has succeeded in the tour de force of convincing personalities from civil society such as Vincent Blondel, Armel Gysen, Yves Coppieters, Olivier de Wasseige or Jean-Jacques Cloquet to join a party that no one thought capable of winning 20% on the evening of the elections of June 9.
The 20% Committed, from fantasy to reality: the reasons for a historic victory
“The worst would have been a lukewarm transformation, which did not make waves. In hindsight, fortunately I persisted, even if I doubted at certain momentshe concluded. I was hoping to do 14-15%. I wouldn’t even have dared to dream of 20%. This result is a source of pride, confirmation that in times of extremes, nuance can be a strength.”
