Campaign Notebook, the negotiation, episode 2! This week we are talking about a kiss from Georges-Louis Bouchez, the informant De Wever who leans towards Arizona, a controversy which launches the municipal campaign in Brussels and the transfer window of the Engagés in the European Parliament.
We start with the image of the week. It’s a kiss between Bart de Wever and Georges-Louis Bouchez. The photo was taken in Antwerp, Bolivar Square.
This kiss between the presidents of the MR and the N-VA is the symbol of union… with a reference. 1979, Berlin, the kiss between Leonid Brezhnev and Eric Honecker. A photo then painted on the Berlin Wall. It represents the socialist friendship between the Soviet Union and East Germany.
Let’s stay for a moment with Bart de Wever, the informant, who went to the King on Wednesday. A visit to the Palace to make his first informant report. Notice that it is the King who invites him to take the break. Obviously, he didn’t say anything when he left.
On the other hand, he spoke in a podcast published Friday by the W16 news site, Wetstraat 16. Bart De Wever does not see any other formula than the Arizona coalition… N-VA, Vooruit, CD&V, MR en Les Committed. “There is something inevitable about a federal formula that must at least be attempted. And if it were to be any coalition other than Arizona, I’m afraid we’ll have to wait until October and we’ll have eaten the Christmas turkey before there’s any training. And I haven’t said what year yet“.
Not very enthusiastic unions
And during this time, the MR and the Engagés began their round of discussion for the formation of a Walloon government. They started with actors from the socio-economic world. And we will remember this photo broadcast by the MR, we see the party presidents all smiles and union officials who are much less so…
Unions, determined to defend their point of view. “We will now wait to see what concrete proposals are on the table. We will analyze them and if necessary, we will react, because we cannot accept that we stigmatize one or the other. But that, today, is prejudging decisions that are not made“, declared Marie-Hélène Ska, general secretary of the CSC, at the microphone of Martin Buxant on Bel RTL.
The first controversy of the campaign for the municipal elections
Let’s move on to the controversy of the week, it concerns a football match. A controversy which is already launching the electoral campaign for the municipal elections. Belgium-Israel, a Nations League match, is to be played on September 6 at the King Baudoin Stadium, but the City of Brussels refuses. It’s too risky, she said. And this is where we witness a PS-MR clash, in the fight for the mayoralty: Philippe Close and Georges-Louis Bouchez.
“But it’s a scandal, I mean, even the worst democracies in the world should not suffer such humiliation“, protests the president of the MR.
Philippe Close justifies himself: “I cannot put all my law enforcement at the disposal of football either and therefore I want to be able to keep a capacity for the neighborhoods which must also be able to benefit from public order“
Georges-Louis Bouchez: “If we are no longer able to receive a delegation from Israel for a football match, it is because we have a serious problem in our country.“.
I know very well what’s coming
In Brussels, it is the theoretical future minister-president who is creating the controversy. In the columns of L’Echo, David Leisterh affirms that “Brussels has for too long been managed by those who live there“, referring to the fact that it will be Georges-Louis Bouchez who will lead the Brussels negotiations.
Outcry among other French speakers. Starting with Olivier Maingain, from DéFI. “I know very well what is coming. People will come and tell us about the merger of municipalities, the merger of police zones. In short, the distancing of power so that there is no longer this proximity, so that there is no longer this availability, this listening, this capacity. You know, in the history of my party there was a slogan, ‘Brussels master at home’“.
Mercato in the European Parliament
We leave with news from the European Parliament because, yes, remember, we also voted for Europe. The Engagés announced that they were changing political groups. They left the conservative EPP, European People’s Party, to join Renew, the liberal group, under the moved eyes of Gérard Deprez and Joëlle Milquet, two former presidents.
Also note that Marion Maréchal, far right in France, joins the N-VA group, the European Conservatives and Reformists.
That’s it, that’s all for today, it’s the end of this Campaign Notebook or Negotiation Notebook, a bit of both in the end. We voted 14 days ago now and we still don’t have a government.
Political campaign notebook elections 2024
