Advanced discussions are in fact underway between Écolo, the PS and the PTB in Forest, Mons and, to a lesser extent, in Schaerbeek.
Recent events place the Greens in an uncomfortable situation.
While the environmentalist general staff was counting on a bluff from the PS, which had opened discussions with the far-left party in several municipalities, it is now taking these attempts at an alliance seriously. And for good reason. The socialist party office gave the green light for the constitution of a majority with the PTB in Mons, Molenbeek and Forest.
The PS office divided over the possible participation of the PTB in certain municipal majorities
At Écolo, we didn’t really expect it…
gull“Honestly, we were surprised by the green light from the PS.”
The subject was therefore put on the table of the Ecolo political office, which was held Monday evening in Namur.
“Honestly, we were surprised by the green light from the PSadmits an elected Ecolo who attended the office. The PS has decided to change its attitude towards the PTB, in municipalities where it has control. We are in a bad situation. But, paradoxically, we are not sure that we are really in a bad situation… Because we remain in doubt about the sincerity of the PS, vis-à-vis the PTB.”
Monday evening, the Ecolo political office therefore discussed the strategy to adopt, and how to interpret the PS’s turnaround. Several divergent opinions were expressed, in a rather lively but constructive manner, we are assured. The party, obviously, is not unanimous on the position to adopt. The discussions concluded without any order being given: no green light, no stop sign.
“A problem of principle”
“Personally, I am not in favor of an alliance with the PTBpoints out an important figure of the party. It is in no way a question of people, or even of a program. But I have a problem with principle. It seems difficult to me to make an agreement with a Maoist party (Editor’s note: the PTB created as a Maoist movement now calls itself Marxist) which takes weak positions on human rights, on issues such as the Uyghur minority in China, support for Ukraine, the relationship with Vladimir Putin or the European Union.”
For co-presidents Samuel Cogolati and Marie Lecocq, the situation is particularly uncomfortable. “I am convinced that the co-presidents are not in favor of an agreement with the PTB, which would immediately identify us as being stuck to the left, while Écolo could embody a more centrist ecology, or at least one which is not directly classified as left alltakes up this figure of the party. But at Écolo, power is exercised in internal democracy. And we shouldn’t overestimate the power of a co-presidency, especially when people have just been elected and still have everything to prove.”
At Écolo, the decision to join, or not, a municipal majority depends in fine activists, in local sections. The party is content in theory to submit an opinion.
The governing bodies can certainly influence the course of things, but the maneuver is delicate, as the environmental activist is so multifaceted. “Our activists are both worried about the double discourse of the PTB, in refusal of the conservatism of the MR, and disgusted by the clientelism of the PS”, summarized Marie Lecocq, co-president of Écolo, in La Libre on October 17.
Écolo, however, insists on this fact: if the PTB is preparing to move into municipal majorities, it is at the initiative of the PS, and not Écolo.
“A bluff in Mons”
“We have not taken any initiatives with regard to the PTB at any time, neither in Mons, nor in Forest, at any level. We negotiate with the PS, and it is the PS which brought the PTB into the hitch”recalls an environmentalist source. “This surprises us, particularly in Mons, where we would frankly prefer to go with the Engagés than with the PTB. The attitude of Mayor Nicolas Martin is also surprising: he is not really a personality of left… This attempt to bring the PTB to Mons is probably a bluff against Georges-Louis Bouchez.”
The situation varies from one municipality to another.
In Schaerbeek, discussions between the PS, Écolo and the PTB are still in their infancy.
In Forest, on the other hand, they are very advanced. In this commune, the local Ecolo section decided, at the end of a general assembly, not to work with the MR. As the MR-Défi cartel is currently unbreakable, the PTB proves to be practically unavoidable in Forest.
“We have already had numerous discussions with the PS and the PTB, mainly on the meritstells us Evelyne Uyttebroeck, former Brussels minister and member of the local forest section of Écolo. There must still be two or three meetings, then we will come to the sharing of aldermen and skills“.
As for the party, it is sailing by sight, in the wake of the PS and in a thick fog.
