Jacqueline Galant comes back and assures him: “I have matured!”

Eight years after a first ministerial experience that ended in a damp squib (in charge of Mobility in the federal government of Michel I, she resigned in April 2016), the first citizen of Jurbise is back at it again. This time at the Walloon level. But also in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Meeting.

Jacqueline Galant, was your nomination a surprise for you?

Yes. But I think it is a nice recognition from my president.

Why were you chosen?

Because people know that I am a common sense person. I am a very practical person, someone who works in the field.

In what frame of mind are you approaching this new challenge?

It is very motivating, because the entire DPR/DPC (the regional policy declaration and community policy declaration, editor’s note) is an exciting text. The roadmap is really ambitious, whether on the side of the Region or the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

You have indeed inherited a “double hat” (regional and community). Doesn’t that scare you?

Not at all. I find it even more motivating. Because it is the first time that there is so much coherence for the different subjects. It is much more readable for the citizen. And so, it was doubly exciting to respond positively. But it is true that it requires even more availability and especially organization.

You will indeed have to divide your time between Namur and Brussels to respond to the two Parliaments…

I was a parliamentarian for 20 years. So it’s a passion. Having worn both hats, I really make it a point of honour to be available to parliamentarians too. Because it’s our role to answer their questions. And then, we need Parliament to move forward with our proposals. And so, it really has to be a hand-in-hand effort.

So you are now Minister for the Region and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. What will be your priority for the start of this legislature?

It is becoming unbearable for citizens, for businesses, for local authorities, for the various stakeholders who are linked to the administration to have to fill out the same form sometimes twelve times to request a bonus, to have to answer the same question twelve times when there is a request for assistance, that there is no more flexible accessibility at the administrative level. Administrative simplification is my number one priority.

For what?

It will also simplify the daily lives of civil servants. Because today, we need to have a public service that is truly at the service of the public.

So this is your second time in an executive position. What memories do you have of your first ministerial experience?

I think that in any experience, you always have to keep the positive. And so, it brought me a lot. I think that I have also matured a lot since the federal government. I was able to make progress. Well, at one point, we had become inaudible. But here, the configuration is totally different: a majority of two parties, only French-speaking. This is also an element that is different. And then the minister-presidents too, whether on the side of the Walloon Region or the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, are very keen to succeed in realizing this roadmap. They take us along in their general enthusiasm. And that’s what’s great: we really form a very close-knit team.

Administrative simplification: kick-off on October 3

A “dedicated council of ministers” on the theme will be held on October 3, announced the minister. Who lifts a corner of the veil: “All functional ministers will be sucked into the operation. Each will come with their points of attention. Because I need each minister to implement all these simplifications. It will really be a team effort. It will be transversal.” The goal being, on October 3, to produce “a guidance note, which will set the government’s commitment”. But also to present the methodology to colleagues: “There will be 3 operations. Quick wins that can be quickly implemented. Then the program decree, where we can already put a lot of things. And finally, the decrees. But we know that that takes more time.”

Confirmation of the end of status in the civil service

Both at the regional level and at the Wallonia-Brussels Federation level, the new MR-Engagés majority partners aim to put an end to the status in the civil service.

“This will be one of the first concrete actions that will be taken,” confirms Jacqueline Galant, who is also responsible for this competence. “In any case, for the Walloon Region it has already been taken, since it was in first reading in the government on July 23. We will now have the union consultation on October 4. And at the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, it is the same thing: it will come to the government’s table fairly quickly.”

Galant, Minister of Media: “The lever we have is media education”

In charge of the media, Minister Galant wants to be reassuring. But warns: “We are going to rationalize.” In “all sectors.”

Last weekend, some criticized Jacqueline Galant for several messages posted on social networks. These questioned the treatment of information by RTBF.

Before that, the minister assured us that she was “very attached to freedom of the press”. She had also defended herself against any interference with it: “If I had been incisive or wanted to interfere in a journalist’s writing, I would have done so well before. Because I have not always been spared…” Before adding: “But I am also very attached to the pluralist offer and the pluralism of ideas.”

More generally, the minister wants to “reassure journalists”. Because, she notes, “we give this image that we are coming to revolutionize everything”. However, if “yes, things must change and we must make savings in all sectors”, we must also “keep the fundamental principles of the press here”.

Concerning the RTBF, the minister confirms: “Savings will be made. But above all, the RTBF must return to its fundamental missions, which are information, the promotion of culture and the contribution to the continuing education of citizens.”

But public service media is not the only one in the government’s sights. Thus, when it comes to local media (which are “close to her heart”), Jacqueline Galant warns: “We are going to have to rationalize” and “provide a framework. We are going to move quickly on this issue, because it is important to show that we are evolving. Choices will have to be made. But there will always be support.”

Especially since there is no shortage of challenges for the sector: artificial intelligence, social networks, etc. Regulation is also needed here. But “it must come from Europe,” says the minister, alluding to the meager weight that the FWB carries compared to the digital giants. Before adding: “In our country, the lever we have is media education. To explain to young people how to detect what is true and what is false on social networks and what can and cannot be done. To strengthen the critical thinking of citizens, children, young people in relation to all the information that reaches them. It is fundamental.”

Galant, Minister of Sports: “Of the 7 gold medals, there are 6 French-speaking medals”

Among the skills inherited from both the Region and the Community, we find sport. And that’s good: Jacqueline Galant says she is “passionate”.

The new Minister of Sports in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation quickly found herself thrown in at the deep end, considering she was “very lucky” to take up her duties in the middle of a successful Olympic summer for our athletes. “Whether they are able-bodied or disabled athletes, they bring us enthusiasm,” she smiles.

Back from Paris, Jacqueline Galant says she was particularly struck by the Paralympic athletes she was able to meet: “Extraordinary people, who have life paths, life stories that are impressive”. The minister is also pleased that “of the 7 gold medals, there are 6 French-speaking medals (Lea Bayekula, Maxime Carabin and Michèle George each won two gold medals, Editor’s note). It is still important to say that all the measures that were taken by my predecessors, whether it be Valérie Glatigny or Pierre-Yves Jeholet, are bearing fruit today”.

But the minister assures us: “We must support high-level athletes, but not only them”. And insists: “It is also important not to forget amateur sport”. Because the practice of a sport at whatever level “is important to allow people to emancipate themselves”.

Over the next 5 years, Jacqueline Galant has set two major priorities for the action she wants to bring to the sector: “I think it’s important that we demonstrate maximum inclusion. And strengthen sports-school collaboration, for example by making our schools’ halls available to sports clubs.”

The minister also welcomes the dual ministerial role that now allows her to make decisions regarding both sport and infrastructure. “I am mayor (of Jurbise, editor’s note), and we all want to have our own sports hall. But we really need a global reflection and consultation with the federations. To see what is necessary and make investments that are well thought out, concerted and that meet the expectations of the field.”

Minister and… president of a football club

When she introduces herself as “a woman in the field”, Jacqueline Galant could not be more right. For a year now, she has taken over the reins of a football club: FC Vacresse, active at the provincial level, in Hainaut (P2B).

“By being president, I was able to see how difficult it is to run all these amateur structures. Finding volunteers, money, sponsors, enforcing fair play… There is also women’s sport, which is trying to develop more and more.”

Her colleagues at the firm assure her: “She is following this closely!”

“Honestly, it’s exciting,” she admits. Before highlighting “the 200 young people who come to the club every week. It’s a school of life. And while they’re doing sport, they don’t do stupid things in the street.”