Shots
“Would the 20-year-old Chiro leader still recognize the Melissa of today?” The weekly magazine There holds up a mirror in an in-depth interview with Melissa Depraetere, Flemish Minister of Climate, Energy, Housing, Youth and Tourism. The leader of Vooruit has a lot to say about the fight against global warming, but also about important things, such as alcohol abuse among scouts. “Everyone says that I have hardly changed,” says Depraetere. “But I never believed that twelve years later I would be a minister. We were busy drinking pints and partying. I was the leader who pushed the others to drink shots until three in the morning, and above all not to go home. Even then I wanted to make sure that everyone could participate.”
Read fridge
By the latter, Depraetere does not mean that everyone should be able to drink, although it may come down to that. But she and others then advanced the membership fees of children from a poor family.
Depraetere himself still has to get used to life as a minister. “I’m not for all that protocol and bullshit stuff. At the climate summit they were surprised by a 32-year-old minister. The organizer thought we were the Belgian climate youth: ‘Is the minister still coming?’” (laughs)
“My life hasn’t changed much. I still live in Harelbeke, I often go to Brussels by train and my fridge at home is still empty.”
Normal jobs
Depraetere continues to get used to the new job as minister. “My brother is a postman, my mother is a cleaning lady, and my father worked as a welder until two years ago. I’m a little ashamed that I’m now earning multiples. My friends also have normal jobs: childcare worker, hairdresser, beautician. It’s like I’m constantly traveling between two completely different worlds.”
“But they can also reinforce each other. As a child I dreamed of becoming a cleaning lady, and in the government I helped ensure that they received a higher hourly wage.” If Depraetere does realize her childhood dream after her ministerial position, she will have to do some serious cleaning to neutralize the bad smell of self-service.
Abnormal jobs
There are still people with abnormal jobs, not to mention TV presenter Julie Taton. He didn’t move to Bergen for nothing. The former Miss Belgium had moved to the city from Lasne in Walloon Brabant to be on the list of MR chairman Georges-Louis Bouchez, but her domicile was not arranged in time. So Taton was ultimately not on the list of Bouchez, Mons and Mieux.
However, Bouchez, always prepared to raise the employment rate single-handedly if necessary, has now been able to give her a paid position, namely in the OCMW council of Mons. Taton, who is also an MR MP, was chosen from the 40 candidates on the list for the four seats of the Liberal Party. A member of the OCMW council apparently does not necessarily have to have been a candidate for the municipal elections. Taton previously indicated that he wanted to enter politics to give a voice to children with disabilities.
Rescuer Dedecker
At 32 years old, Depraetere is anything but the youngest minister ever – that title still belongs to Charles Michel, who was once 24 years old when he became minister. However, that youth is not only a blessing, Depraetere knows. “As a young MP you have to go through a shitperiode”, she remembers. “On my first day as party leader, I had to defend Vivaldi’s coalition agreement in parliament. Several seniors made it very difficult for me: to test me they asked questions about the smallest details. And then Jean-Marie Dedecker stood up. I thought: oh no, now it’s going to start too. But he said: ‘Colleagues, stop it! This is ridiculous.’ He was my savior.”
He also has the license for it.
