2023-11-10 09:25:28
Exceptional debate yesterday between Paul Magnette, president of the PS, and Georges Louis Bouchez, president of the MR. On the set of Une TV, the two men clashed for 30 minutes. This is a debate from the past. A debate regarding the past in the sense of the passive. The past that the MR and the PS have in common following 4 years of traveling together since the last elections.
Dissensions
And, it must be remembered, these 4 years have been marked by the differences, the dissensions, the controversies between these two parties which are in coalition at all levels of the Belgium house, except in Brussels. Yesterday’s debate was like a concentrate of these four years, a concentrate of the liabilities between the two on taxation, employment, security or the conflict in the Middle East.
Basically, we didn’t learn much. Most of the arguments were already known. The MR accuses the PS of communitarianism on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, of laxity on security, of wanting to tax everything, and of moral arrogance. For its part, the PS accuses the MR of defending the rich, of wanting to establish austerity, of wanting to govern with the N-VA. A debate that creates a situation of cognitive dissonance. Here are two parties which every day make agreements and make decisions together and which in half an hour do not seem to agree on anything or almost nothing.
This is a bit of the problem with a permanent campaign, is that once the campaign begins, it has a feeling of déjà vu.
A first
In this configuration, face-to-face, it is a first since the previous elections. Which begs the question: why did Paul Magnette and Georges Louis Bouchez agree to move from remote debate to direct debate? This debate that RTBF has wanted to organize for a long time.
No doubt because the two no longer hope for much from the different governments.
No doubt because the two parties need to assert themselves as the two big players in French-speaking politics, positions which, for both, are more fragile than before.
No doubt because Georges Louis Bouchez, recently painfully reappointed as president, needs to debate with the president of the largest party to revive his authority.
No doubt because Paul Magnette needs Georges Louis Bouchez as a scarecrow to gain credibility as leader of the left.
Ultimately, what we must remember from this debate is that it did not turn into a complete cacophony. As was the case last year in a famous presidential debate at QR. Georges Louis Bouchez was more in his role as president than in his troll costume on Twitter. Paul Magnette was more in his role as president than in his university professor costume.
Ensemble
Ultimately, the question remains. These two govern together, will they still be able to do it tomorrow? If it is possible no, if it is necessary yes. This was the conclusion of last night’s debate. A conclusion which may well still be true the day before the election. Let us therefore note that this debate yesterday focused on liabilities.
But in the coming weeks, the parties will establish their programs. We can then hope that the debate will then focus on the future, world views, proposals, ideologies. If the conflict which was expressed last night is rather healthy in democracy, democracy is an accepted experience of conflict management, this conflict between the PS and the MR seems to go in circles, it is rehashed, outdated because it has been turned towards the past.
It is the conflict of projects, of ideas for tomorrow which can constitute a campaign worthy of the name. Quick, the real countryside…
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