On Monday morning, they delivered their findings and some proposals in front of the PS office to restore Wallonia’s promised new prosperity. “It’s a step, nothing is validated yet,” specified Nicolas Martin. However, the office considered that the three elected officials could continue their work. Under the slogan “produce and protect.”
A group leader resigns but the MR-Les Engagés majority is unshaken… for now
“They no longer believe in the government”
For them, it’s about learning from their 2024 electoral failure, “putting the economy at the heart of the socialist project – where it has always been,” explained Thomas Dermine – and reconnecting with economic actors. The latter “tell us that they believed in the Azur government’s policy (Editor’s note: the MR-Les Engagés coalition in Wallonia) , but they no longer believe in it,” added the Mayor of Charleroi.
The federal and Walloon majorities are targeted on assessments. “We must not let the economy be monopolized by the right,” Nicolas Martin stated. “The right produces without protecting and lets the market do as it pleases. We believe that the state must play a role. Public initiative is essential. We at the PS are aware that there is no strong social state without a strong economy.”
The Socialist Party believes it has been “unjustly singled out as the scapegoat for economic difficulties by right-wing rhetoric during the campaign.” “We can see that Azur and Arizona are failing. There is no economic policy like what was the case with the PS in the past”, analyzed Thomas Dermine.
The three delegates, who lead a large city with a flourishing economic past, also believe that “their industrial base has been abandoned by the right.” “Yet it is an essential pillar of economic recovery. We are facing amateur governments.”
For the PS, the reform of the Walloon provinces is “amateurish”
The three delegates present ten proposals, while specifying that all of this will need further refinement. The first step is to make Wallonia “the simplest and fastest region for entrepreneurial activity in Europe by significantly streamlining administrative procedures,” explained Déborah Gérardon. According to the PS, the current Walloon government continues to “make things more complex.”
The PS also wants an SME and independent pact by placing “SMEs and businesses at the heart of economic activity,” emphasized Gérardon. To achieve this, several proposals are considered: “exemption of real estate prepayment, simplification of public markets through clauses that favor local anchoring, etc.“. It would also involve “reviving commerce and town centers in Wallonia and adding housing above these businesses to revitalize neighborhoods in the evening.”
The PS also proposes to create a “regional impulsion fund to transform innovation into industrial activity.” A fund that would be endowed with a budget of 250 million euros.
The merger of the 19 Walloon research centers into a large Wallonia Institute of Technology is also considered to boost innovation. It is also necessary to refocus public financial levers around six key sectors (green industry, biotech, agri-food, logistics, defense, and space) on the model of competitiveness clusters created under the Marshall Plan.
Renovating industrial neighborhoods
The construction sector is also highlighted through the proposal “to establish multi-year plans to renovate old industrial neighborhoods,” insisted Déborah Gérardon.
The PS also asserts the need to continue investing in green energy while ensuring the extension of nuclear power.
The final part concerns artificial intelligence, which according to the PS, should be “regulated to become a lever for reducing working time and strengthening public services.”
To be continued in the autumn.
