Since I have been in politics, I have always wanted to give an interesting image of politics. In spite of myself, I become a counter-example because there are lots of people who tell me that they will no longer vote.
An MR-Engaged-Ecolo majority in Tournai: Marie-Christine Marghem mayor, the PS in opposition
Have you ever thought that you would have done things differently before the elections, during the negotiations?
If I knew the degree of possibility of treachery among people today, yes, perhaps I would have acted differently. But I found myself facing three parties who, in my opinion, had already come together before the elections and wanted to throw us out.
I did politics the way I thought I should do it. This may be a mistake, but I’m not a calculator. When I think that what I do is good, I don’t tell myself that it could possibly cost me votes. When I attack slumlords, I alienate an owner and often a whole series of tenants because I don’t necessarily have the possibility of rehousing all of these people. But should I continue to turn a blind eye and let the crooked owners take action?
So sometimes I’m an elephant in a china shop. But when I think what I’m doing is good for society, I don’t care if I’m going to alienate people. I was happy to see that my messages were going well because I achieved a remarkable score. It brings a lot of comfort to the heart. I think that if I made so many voices, it is also because people recognized in me someone who was open.
What image would you like people to remember about you as mayor?
That I worked seriously. That I was a mayor close to the people. I processed, I think, more than 70,000 emails during the legislature. It was 365 days a year, day and night, with my tablet following me everywhere. You have to love what you do for that.
I learned a lot from the police. I discovered realities by becoming mayor. Particularly what I was able to discover when I lost my little brother: there is an enormous amount of humanity in many police officers. It is extremely difficult work because there is an increasing lack of respect on the part of citizens. It is high time to refinance justice. When police officers have to carry out work which, they know, will not lead to prosecutions, there is a demotivation that sets in, as well as a feeling of impunity.
You have to be careful and not do anything with the laws. When we say during the election campaign that we are going to clean up Rue Royale, that is very simplistic. There is never an easy solution to complex problems. Those who make people believe otherwise are demagogues. When we say that we need to hire police officers, it is an electoral promise that has neither tail nor head: we cannot find any police officers applying.
The other discovery I made while being police chief is the immensity of the drug phenomenon in our society. It’s catastrophic. The problem is general. I have already repeated it several times: we need a European Marshal plan to fight against drugs. If we don’t really take it head on, we’re heading straight into the wall and completely letting go of our youth.
Public lighting restored in Tournai and in the villages everywhere and all the time: the PS’s coup against its partner Ecolo
If there was one accomplishment you would be most proud of, what would it be?
A lot of big projects have been implemented: rue Royale, the swimming pool, the police station, Carré Janson. But I would prefer to point out very small achievements. The doll placed in the park right in front of the CHwapi (in reference to child road victims), the gorilla in the Georges Brassens park, creations made with schools such as the dovecote in the Queen’s garden. There are also the graffiti with Saint-Luc, the garden of the Righteous with the provincial school, a reworked ordeal in a village. I think all these little things are perhaps more important than all the other big projects.
What is the state of mind of the socialist troops before joining the ranks of the opposition?
Those who are elected all have a fairly strong feeling of betrayal. They really want to go into battle. We are not going to go into battle over everything and anything, but we have values and we will have them respected. It is obvious that if there are inconsistencies, and I believe that there will be within this college which combines Madame Nucléaire with the ecologists, I can be counted on to point them out. In terms of inconsistency, it was not me who said that we were going to use a Kärcher to clean rue Royale. So, I’m interested to know who will mop the floor?
Your professional future will be at the head of the Wapi PS?
Contrary to popular belief, I do not have a golden parachute. The federal secretary had resigned and wished not to make it known so as not to create possible tensions during the elections. Being federal secretary of the Socialist Party means a lot of pressure, personal conflicts that you have to manage, etc. A federal committee appointed me two weeks ago, considering that I still had some experience and that I perhaps had the strong character to be able to take on this type of mission, with the desire to bring back the Socialist Party, to have a strategy for the entire region. I will meet activists from different sections to take the pulse.
If I have the opportunity to teach a few hours I would too. I like it. During my six years as mayor, I systematically contacted all the schools that I met here, in the municipal council room, to explain to them what a municipality was. I have a degree from Sciences Po, I have already taught courses in social promotion.
What do you say to those who say that an alternation is not that negative?
It’s true that in a democratic system, we can say that it’s not that negative. But when we talk about the need for alternation, it’s as if Paul-Olivier Delannois had been there for 48 years. I’m sorry, but you can’t say I’ve been here forever. We are making comparisons with totally obsolete periods. It seems to me that I have evolved a lot. There is no socialist system in Tournai. I have never taken a single exam for an administrative position. I always let the administration do it and I always took the first one ranked. You can’t attack me on that.
