Van Tigchelt: “Otherwise, let me become Minister of Justice, Home Affairs, Asylum and Migration, Customs and the Buildings Agency in the next government.”

Anyone who slips in the Wetstraat or ends up in the rumor mill will sooner or later end up in this section.

Circumcision (1)

Goedele Liekens (Open VLD) may currently be experiencing its last weeks in Parliament. And she also does not leave parliament without disappointment. “I have been trying to prevent reimbursement for non-medically necessary circumcisions of boys for five years,” says Liekens in Primo. “We are the only country in Europe that reimburses something like this. That costs the government 25 million euros per year and unnecessary child suffering.” She compares her struggle with the fruitless struggle of Valerie Van Peel (N-VA) to adjust the scheme for asbestos victims. “These frustrations appear to be part of politics.”

Pajamas

Former Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau “doesn’t feel like he’s in Belgium” when he drives through Molenbeek. We won’t soon see him in pajamas at the bakery in Molenbeek. That is very different with Groen co-chairman Nadia Naji who has now lived in Molenbeek with her husband Stef for seven years. “Brussels is beautiful in its simplicity. I like the hustle and bustle, but I can also go to the bakery here in my pajamas in the morning if I want.”

Circumcision (2)

But in the federal faction, of which she was part, Liekens thought it was “great fun”. “Everyone told me to watch out for the proverbial knife in the back, but in our team it was completely different. I made friends for life there. Within the party… Well, I’m speaking my mind. I’m not a good pushover.”

Great Paul

Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) is also no pushover. With his sleeves rolled up, the Minister of Justice steps in Hello everyone clashes with lawyer Walter Damen over the shortage of places in prisons. “In the next government, let me become Minister of Justice, Home Affairs, Asylum and Migration, Customs and the Buildings Agency,” he concludes in the interview. “Then you can really achieve many things at the same time and you save on the number of ministers.” Irony is a dangerous genre. Van Tigchelt must already know that after his passage Gert’s Tablewhere he jokingly offered his resignation as minister.

Circumcision (3)

Although Liekens had announced that she would say goodbye to politics, she is once again pushing the Flemish Brabant parliamentary list for Open VLD. “My heart bleeds at the idea that there would no longer be a liberal party,” she looks rather pessimistically at the difficult times that Open VLD is experiencing. A reason why she is still on the list. “I think the party needs new impetus. There are many young people ready and I want to give them a push. So I am not standing because I really want to be re-elected.”