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On the other side of the language border, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) faced PS chairman Paul Magnette in a debate on RTL. The two gentlemen got along on many levels, although there were some rifts between the two men who negotiated the final straight line to Vivaldi.

The points of contention were mainly classics between liberals and socialists. The Prime Minister does not like the PS proposal to introduce a 32-hour working week. “People in Flanders fell off their chairs,” he explains. “There are enough jobs. And you argue for working less. No. We have to help people so that they work.” De Croo has difficulty with such balloons. “That’s how you disappoint people.” For the PS foreman, working 32 hours a week is a good idea to reduce the number of (long-term) sick people. “Becoming ill as an employee is terrible. But it is also for the companies.”

As soon as the moderator broaches the subject of taxation, the antennae rise again. Magnette mainly blames the MR for the fact that the tax reform was torpedoed. The PS wants lower taxes for lower incomes. In return, the “top 2 to 3 percent” must pay more. De Croo responds that entrepreneurs should not be taxed additionally, but that they should be encouraged.

Magnette’s accusation that De Croo invests too little in healthcare is also met with resistance. “Wrong,” De Croo interrupts. “We are allocating more money to public health.” According to the liberal, current policy falls short mainly in prevention.

The two gentlemen also talked about drug violence in Brussels. Magnette, in addition to PS leader, the mayor of Charleroi, advocates a national approach to drugs. “It comes in via the port of Antwerp. Then it spreads. To Brussels, to Charleroi …” De Croo agrees, but also points to the Brussels administration. The Socialists have been failing there for years, he accuses. The complexity of Brussels is also not helping matters, according to the Prime Minister.

Whether the debate was one of a sitting prime minister against a candidate prime minister was only half-heartedly agreed at the end. Magnette reiterated that he is prepared to take responsibility if the Socialists become the largest in parliament. De Croo said that hard work must continue to improve the country.