In the VRT programme The Appointment on Friday Georges-Louis Bouchez made a remarkable opening to Bart De Wever and state reform. It is clear that the chairman of the MR wants to insert himself into the entente between the PS and the N-VA, which he is explicitly surprised about. He calls Bart De Wever “a Flemish nationalist who has created a national party”, now that the N-VA is submitting lists in Wallonia. And he describes him as “a man who built his entire career on the right but fell in love with the chairman of the socialist party.” “I find that very special in terms of political coherence. The N-VA must now make the right choices and distinguish its friends from its enemies. I do not see what reforms De Wever can do with Magnette.”
Bouchez appears to be ready for state reform, although he has his own view on it, and that is not one of further regionalization. “If we divide powers even further, it will only cause more problems and higher expenditure.” On the other hand, he wants to make the regions financially responsible. “Today, Wallonia and Brussels are lagging behind Flanders in terms of unemployment. Who pays for that today? The federal. That is not normal. Wallonia and Brussels must pay for their unemployment, so they are obliged to reform.”
He regrets that Bart De Wever thinks he has found the key to further state reform in Paul Magnette. “The agreement between De Wever and Magnette is very simple: more regionalization in exchange for a check. The PS does not want to regionalize if there is no money in return. I propose a different deal to Bart De Wever: no more regionalization, but more attention with what we have now.”
“The problem is that what Bart De Wever does is not useful for Flanders. In exchange for more powers, he has to write checks to the PS. So he tells the PS that it can continue to spend Flemish money to obtain those competencies.”
Bouchez calls the MR “the logical partner for the Flemish center right” and regrets that De Wever is looking at the PS. “I don’t think he has made the best choice. Bart De Wever has been fighting the left for years and now he says in Flanders that he wants to take on the MR. The MR who talks about the financial responsibility of the regions. Never before has a French speakers said that the Walloons and Brussels residents must pay for their politics. He never had someone from Mons who said to limit unemployment to two years. Never did a French speaker go so far on security. We are the logical partner for the Flemish center right.”
“But Bart De Wever is afraid of reforms. Now that there is an opportunity and a French-speaking partner presents itself, he leaves us behind. It’s like you’ve been chasing a girl for years and when she says she’s into you, you say you’re not ready. I think Bart De Wever suffers from that syndrome.”
Bouchez calls Vivaldi “not my dream government” and says that it came about thanks to… Bart De Wever. “De Wever says I created Vivaldi with Ecolo. You have to be honest. The real father of Vivaldi is Bart De Wever. He forged his alliance with Paul Magnette, and then received us like a Roman emperor, saying: I want the one liberal does and the other does not. One day he said in a TV studio that he did not want to work with Bouchez’s MR. And then he is surprised that I started looking for other partners? One day he must understand that the natural partner for center-right Flanders is the MR. But he insists on working with Magnette.”
Bouchez once announced that he could speak Dutch during the elections, but in this TV interview he also exclusively used French.
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