Cries from the Wetstraat
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo at the Kwaremont. — © Peter Malaise
Anyone who slips in the Wetstraat or ends up in the rumor mill will sooner or later end up in this section.
Champagne (1)
Flemish Minister of Education and Sport Ben Weyts (N-VA) has not had much reason to uncork the champagne lately. The image of the minister in his underpants in front of the class is burned into everyone’s minds. Last weekend he was criticized for his involvement in the education inspectorate. He has completely forgotten it. When the male and female winners of the Tour of Flanders were honored on Sunday, Shirin van Anrooij was struggling to open her bottle of champagne. Weyts came to her rescue to pull the cork out of the bottle with a white handkerchief. In vain. Fortunately, the winner Elisa Longo Borghini was able to get the job done.
Aprilfish
In French-speaking Belgium, the April Fool is still very much alive. Alain Destexhe uses the fish to once again attack the MR, his former party. “I am pleased to announce that I will be on the MR lists on June 9,” he proudly announced on X on Monday. “A return to the old nest.” According to Destexhe, Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) wants his party to move more to the right, now that N-VA is also introducing electoral lists in Wallonia. According to Destexhe, Bouchez is calling on him to provide a counterweight to people like Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib, “who is neither left nor right”, and the “ex-communist Youssef Handichi”, who switched from the PTB/PVDA to the MR. No one is better suited for that task than Destexhe, who is part of the campaign team of the far-right French politician Eric Zemmour.
Champagne (2)
Prime Minister was also on that same stage Alexander De Croo (Open VLD), separated from Weyts by the stairs on which the top 3 always show off. De Croo certainly did not dare to ask for help in uncorking the bottle of champagne. In his own words, he is not the champagne man. “I like to drink a pint and I will continue to do so,” he says The Sunday. But the Prime Minister does not sag, even when the Tour of Flanders is almost passing by his front door. “I’m going to relax, but as Prime Minister you can’t afford to have a hangover, I think. Conversely, there are foreign colleagues who swear off every drop of alcohol because of their office. I don’t think that’s necessary.”
In Bath
It must be done with party leaders who disrupt government work from the sidelines. They will have to take a bath next time. “Those who form the government must also take a seat in that government,” says MP Koen Geens (CD&V) in Le Soir. “If their party is in government, the chairmen should also be the deputy prime ministers,” he says. “If their party is in opposition, the chairman must be the party leader.” And the largest party must take the premiership.
