Since the start of the legislature, I have exercised my mandate as a deputy by ensuring that I maintain cordial and constructive relations, both with the majority and with the opposition. This is how I see my role. I think it is perhaps this profile that Yvan Verougstraete liked.
Are you inheriting a tense situation with the MR partner?
No. Are we fundamentally different from MR? The answer is “yes”. But this is not a scoop. Our social projects differ, as does our way of carrying them out. In the majorities that we have built with MR, our balance rests on the community (DPC) and regional (DPR) policy declarations. My role is to advance the DPC for the Committed movement, in partnership with the MR and with mutual respect.
Will your mission consist of appeasing the majority or reaffirming a line “Les Engagés” plus affirmée ?
Neither. My mandate is to carry the DPC with the orientations that are ours. We will work to find the necessary adjustments in each project, while defending them within Parliament.
You spoke with Mathilde Vandorpe. What did she tell you?
It was more of a technical nature. But it also allowed me to nourish my thoughts and ensure that she will continue to work with us and carry out her cases. It was important for us. I have complete confidence in her. I think that a lesson to be learned from this situation is that, democratically, our movement is mature enough to say things to each other, to debate, to disagree, but to find collective solutions so that everyone continues to carry the project.
Within the Engagés, different currents coexist : some representatives are more on the center-left, others on the center-right. Where do you position yourself?
It’s an interpretation that you make. Without tongue in cheek, I am deeply centrist, convinced that individual and collective logics do not oppose each other, but mutually reinforce each other. On certain issues, my positioning could be perceived as center-right, on others as center-left. If I define myself as a centrist, it is also because, within my movement, all debates are possible, including with our representatives in government.
You call yourself deeply centrist. When Georges-Louis Bouchez evokes a climate of “cultural war” and would like to review the method of subsidizing cultural actors, what is your position?
For us, culture is like democracy. It is based on two main principles: the right for everyone to express a different societal project, with respect for others, and recognition of the role of the associative world, which carries culture at arm’s length.
Some observers claim that within the Azur majorities, Les Engagés seem to be in the wake of the MR…
People who say this are wrong. Just look at the files: the nursing training reform, the ONE management contract or even the gender equality plan… There are, in each case, strong markers, stamped “Engaged”, which translate concretely on the ground.
In the 700 million savings in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, where is this “Engaged touch” located?
The financial situation of the Federation is known. We have made difficult decisions to set a trajectory through 2029 and avoid permanent adjustments. The Committed touch is to have protected services to citizens as much as possible despite the austerity necessary to maintain the framework.
He said it too…
The addition of two hours of lessons per week for upper secondary teachers.
“Education represents 54% of the FWB’s budget. We sought the least painful measure. The “brand” of the Engaged here is to have obtained readjustments for the beginnings and ends of their careers. We are harmonizing the system for everyone.”
A possible regionalization of community matters.
“We must not reject the idea out of hand, but analyze it file by file. Be careful, however: by adding two poor people, you rarely make one rich person. For me, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation retains its full role, particularly for the strong link it maintains with Brussels.”
His priorities as group leader.
“Grow up the propositional role of the Engaged. We have enormous expertise within our deputies. We are not going to turn everything upside down, but we are going to push to table more texts from Parliament, and not just wait for those from the Government. We are ready for that.”
