The series of crises in the public broadcaster put the plenary session of the Flemish Parliament under high tension today. The subject led to a bitter debate, with the opposition asking for an external audit of the VRT, and the majority blocking that boat, supported by Vlaams Belang.
“This is unprecedented,” Katia Segers (Vooruit) criticized the succession of stories that have emerged from VRT in recent weeks. She talked, among other things, about the cancellation of the Bart De Pauw documentary The process that no one wantedthe attempt to Godforsaken to love antenna, reports about toxic leadership and, recently, the message that VRT met Clever Heads would create a program tailored to Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA).
She submitted a motion asking for an external audit. And she also sneered at N-VA and Vlaams Belang. They remained absent at the end of last week, which meant that no vote could be taken to summon VRT CEO Frederik Delaplace to parliament. “Everyone agreed on Thursday, but on Friday that suddenly turned out to be impossible,” said Segers. “You apparently had an agreement about that.” She talked about “telephones from one party, especially N-VA”.
Meyrem Almaci (Green) also criticized what she called “breaking the cordon”. “That is an undermining of democracy (…) Anyone who says that no text and explanation should be provided is partly responsible for the malaise.” Almaci said about N-VA and Vlaams Belang that “you clearly want a regime press.” It led to strong reactions in the hemisphere.
The opposition parties were cautiously supported – at least vocally – by the governing party Open VLD. “We have said very clearly that we have no problem with a hearing,” Stephanie D’Hose said.
“Selective outrage”
Fierce retorts came from across the aisle. Klaas Slootmans of Vlaams Belang saw a “selective outrage”. “When we criticize VRT’s program choices here, you scream bloody murder,” he said. “Then it is about editorial autonomy. But if it does not fit the left’s agenda, the managing director must appear.”
Slootmans also quoted from a press release from the VRT Board of Directors yesterday, in which it said it continued to support the VRT management. “Your directors co-signed that,” said Slootmans. That press release also stated that “the Board of Directors is concerned about how the political independence of the broadcaster is being handled.” However, Slootmans left out that sentence in his response.
N-VA, through Marius Meeremans, pointed out that Minister Benjamin Dalle (CD&V) could be interpellated in parliament on Thursday. According to them, that should be more than sufficient. His colleague Wilfried Vandaele talked about “political games.”
Minister Dalle was not present during the plenary session. His party colleague Karin Brouwers thought that “movements are underway within VRT”, such as an external mediator that will start and an investigation by the labor inspectorate into the news service, “which we should not interfere with.” Like N-VA, she criticized the fact that it had leaked out who was and was not present to vote on the requested arrival of the VRT CEO. “That was a closed session,” she fulminated.
Electricity surge through hemisphere
It is clear that the crisis at VRT is hitting the mood in Flemish politics particularly hard. The debate was one of the last points discussed in a long, drowsy session that had little energy. When the debate about broadcasting started, a spark of electricity went through parliament. Segers’ motion was ultimately voted down, as was a similar motion by Almaci.
Next Thursday they will interpellate Minister Dalle in the Media Committee on the same subject. Then the opposition makes another attempt to summon the VRT leadership to parliament – the fourth, now.
