Astonishment at the MR: the majority agreement provided for three reforming provincial deputies and a single Engaged one. The co-signatories of this majority agreement Jean-Paul Wahl, Tanguy Stuckens and Christophe Dister are amazed. Phones get hot. The MR provincial advisors who were thinking of treating themselves to a quiet football evening can give up on the Belgium – Italy match (without regrets in hindsight). At the end of this urgently convened Zoom meeting, the future MR provincial elected officials are on the same wavelength: an MR-Engaged majority is still privileged, as long as it respects the agreement, including arithmetic, concluded in the election night.
An agreement from Presidents Bouchez and Prévot?
The problem is that this would not be what party presidents Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) and Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) agreed on. The composition of the provincial college is part of a broader negotiation between the two presidents. A negotiation from which the Walloon Brabant staffs would have been excluded.
Since the first hot reactions from Jean-Paul Wahl, late Thursday afternoon, the phone of the president of the MR federation of Walloon Brabant has been ringing in vain. At least when we call him. There is no doubt that his phone has also heated up.
Meetings also increased this Friday at the MR. With, as a highlight, a meeting of all the MR provincial advisors, this time meeting in person. Without knowing the outcome of this meeting.
As a reminder, MR and Engagés had negotiated an agreement on the night of the elections. Together, the two parties have a large majority of 26 provincial councilors. A large majority who would start, whatever happens, with a shaken confidence in their partner, or even resentment, for the reformers.
Eco-friendly and the PS would undoubtedly be less greedy
If this majority were to collapse, the alternatives are few. It is the MR and its 16 provincial councilors who have the most possibilities since the contribution of the four Ecolo councilors or the four socialist councilors would allow them to compose a majority. It’s a safe bet that the PS and Écolo would not be so greedy as to demand two provincial deputy seats. But would the MR jeopardize broader balances for a position of provincial deputy? That’s the whole question that arose this Friday evening.
A quadripartite, the only way to do without the MR
For Les Engagés, there is only one solution to do without the MR: cast a wide net and sign a majority pact with the PS, Écolo and DéFI or the PTB. This seems shaky, even impossible in the case of the PTB.
Normally, the majority pact should have been submitted to the Province before November 15. However, no sanction is provided for in the event of delay. The code of local democracy provides that if no pact is tabled and signed within three months following the validation of the elections, the Walloon government can send a commissioner to take care of current affairs while waiting for a pact to be finally reached. sign.
