Concretely, Elke Van den Brandt (Groen), Minister of Mobility, submitted several requests for subsidies intended for BRAL, Inter-Environnement Brussels (IEB) and the road safety association Heroes for Zero. An associative “pack” that environmentalists consider essential, but which encountered a coordinated barrage from the PS and Anders
If the Dutch-speaking liberal party blocks IEB and BRAL for budgetary reasons, the socialists oppose the financing of Heroes for Zero.
According to our information, the PS refuses to endorse these files unless it obtains concessions on the LEZ, demanding in particular exemption from fines for beneficiaries of increased intervention (BIM), from which a third of Brussels benefits. An exemption which will weigh politically heavily in the balance, when the LEZ fines are actually imposed (at this stage, Dirk De Smedt has suspended them pending a legal framework).
“The PS bargains on everything”
“All files are blocked and Boris Dilliès don’t decide”, summarizes a government source, deploring the absence of Boris Dilliès from the session to act as referee. “The PS bargains on everything, but the Minister-President is not present to act as referee, because he went to Cureghem for a communications operation. As for the Engaged, they remain in the middle of the stream, as usual… It’s the entire method of communication of this government that is coughing.”
A Brussels source does not mince words: “The MR is struggling to manage the contradictions. What we witnessed this Thursday was Rudi Vervoort with a Uccle sauce.”
“Boris Dilliès is going to the field in Cureghem this afternoon for a field visit to which he has not invited the press. It therefore seems surprising to speak of a communication operation, especially since other ministers were due to go to committee this afternoon…”, objects a source close to the Minister-President. “The LEZ file is complex, and it requires discussions and several meetings before arriving at a solution. Which is normal with six partners around the table.”
The moment of truth
Faced with the blockage, the session was suspended at midday. An exceptional government will be organized this Friday, to resolve the disputed points.
Within Boris Dilliès’ cabinet, we are trying to deflate the controversy. Thursday’s council of ministers, which ends around noon, could not continue in the afternoon due to commitments of several ministers, including Karine Lalieux (PS), expected in Parliament to defend the COCOF budget, we are told.
“It is normal for the Brussels Minister-President to go to the field for a representative role. It is a shame that the subject was not decided before the government meeting”, adds a Dutch-speaking source. “But this Friday’s meeting will be a meeting of truth, because the government must show that it can decide on complex issues. It is a founding moment: we must show that we are capable of finding solutions, to prevent this type of crisis from repeating itself.”
In any case, this Thursday’s sequence recalls the conflictual dynamic experienced by the previous Brussels government…
The fact remains that barely six weeks after its installation, the façade of goodwill of the Brussels government is nothing more than a memory.
