The name Diependaele, like his face, is almost unknown south of the linguistic border. In Flanders, his fame hardly reaches that of Bart De Wever, Conner Rousseau or Hilde Crevits. But still. Over the last few years, he has carved out a reputation as head of regional finances.
His trademark: financial orthodoxy. A supporter of budgetary intransigence, which sticks to his appearance as an accountant and his unadorned language, the outgoing minister swears by a reduction in public spending, a controlled trajectory and the maintenance of low taxes. “Continue to use our money wisely.” Understand: let’s stay reasonable with our money. This is his motto. A policy applauded on its right flank within the outgoing Swede. But that earns him flights of green and red wood. Socialists and ecologists constantly denouncing, from the benches of the Flemish opposition, budget cuts notably in De Lijn and a lack of investment in schools or social housing. But the Flemish Grand Argentier, insensitive to invective, showed that he had a well-tanned anthracite suit.
Within the party, Diependaele is what we can call a “faithful lieutenant“. A trusted personality of Bart De Wever. Humanly, he is said to be a man of compromise. An essential quality for a minister-president and which has undoubtedly given him a head start over Zuhal Demir, another star of the N-VA to the Region and also considered for a time for the position Certainly more popular and charismatic than Diependaele, the Limbourgeoise nevertheless earned a reputation as a rebellious person. An impetuous temperament not very compatible with a managerial role. coveted Ministry of Education, which she gets from Ben Weyts sent to Finance.
Defeated by Rousseau on his land
Locally, Matthias Diependaele is anchored in the Dender region. This region west of Brussels watered by the Dender, with cities such as Aalst, Ninove, Grammont and Denderleeuw. A region which experienced a surge in Vlaams Belang in 2018 and which will attract a lot of attention this October 13. Mayor prevented from Zottegem since 2022, the nationalist once again draws the municipal list. Even if it seems obvious that he will hardly wear the sash in the coming years in the event of local re-election.
In the last regional election in June, the future minister-president won 47,001 regional votes in his constituency. An honorable score, well above Egbert Lachaert (14,700 votes), Nicole de Moor (28,247) and Freya Van den Bossche (28,409), but lower than Guy D’haeseleer, the mayoral candidate in Ninove for Vlaams Belang (55,938), or Conner Rousseau (75,801).
Heated negotiations
Diependaele’s mandate hardly began under the best auspices. From the point of view of Flemish public opinion, the training process is far from a success. The day after the elections, the track of the “missile coalition” was presented as the strongest. But the rocket struggled to take off. The atmosphere, far from being euphoric as in Wallonia, was rather twilight. Notes rejected, pressure sometimes from Vooruit, sometimes from the CD&V, palpable irritation … Even if the deadlines are roughly the same as in 2019 (the Jambon government was established on October 2 after elections held in May), the negotiations were felt to be sluggish and too slow. disavowal: the missed deadline of the September statement (the start of the parliamentary term). A delay which was mainly blamed on the conductor.
The Flemish calf drowned
Place des Martyrs where the Flemish government meets a stone’s throw from rue Neuve, the Zottegemnaar will now have to prove himself in the art of political management to reach compromises between strong personalities such as Zuhal Demir, Melissa Depraetere and Jo Brouns. A task that lies ahead – unlike his native Dender – far from being a long, quiet river…
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