“I sometimes have the impression that the Flemings want to do too much,” he said, in response to a question regarding the difference in unemployment rates between Wallonia and Flanders. “I understand it in a way: for centuries there has been poverty, and apparently it’s in the genes to work as hard as possible…sometimes at the expense of one’s own happiness.” And to continue following a joke making fun of the clichés between Walloons and Flemings: “Many Walloons wonder why they put off their happiness for so long. Walloons like to enjoy life. Is it bad?”
Paul Magnette: “Flemish people always have to work hard, Walloons like to enjoy life. Is it so bad?”
This exit of the carolo, who has already announced his intention to run for the post of Prime Minister if the socialist family comes out ahead in the elections in 2024, went badly in the north of the country.
“The Vivaldi summed up perfectly,” tweeted N-VA President Bart De Wever. “It is time for us, as Flemings, to say a clear ‘no’ to this. It is time for the Regions to become financially responsible for their own ‘enjoyment’.”
The statement also aroused disapproval within the federal majority, particularly in the Open Vld, the party which currently occupies Sixteen rue de la Loi with Alexander De Croo. Flemish Minister of Interior Affairs Bart Somers considers him “unfit to be Prime Minister” in a tweet relayed by his party president Egbert Lachaert.
The president of the CD&V Sammy Mahdi for his part was content to relay the reaction of the group leader of the Committed Catherine Fonck: “what a lamentable caricature”.
Even at Groen, unaccustomed to community outings, the subject does not pass. “This really makes no sense. This is an insult to Belgians living in Flanders and Wallonia,” tweeted Flemish Greens co-chairman Jeremie Vaneeckhout.
On the French-speaking side, the MR reacted through the voice of Minister Valérie Glatigny: “pitting Belgians from the North and South once morest each other, and forgetting in passing the very many Walloons and Brussels residents for whom work is a source of fulfillment staff and pride: for a vision of the future of the country, we will come back!”.
“There must be something that escapes me in the promotional strategy of those who see themselves as Prime Minister,” quipped the president of DéFI François De Smet. “Paul Magnette would do better to defend the working class of the whole country rather than pitting the Regions once morest each other”, added the president of the PTB Raoul Hedebouw.
In recent days, the community theme has resurfaced in Flanders, less than a year and a half before the federal and regional elections of 2024. On January 29, the president of the N-VA Bart De Wever thus evoked on the set of the VRT the idea of carrying out an “extra-legal” state reform. CD&V president Sammy Mahdi for his part warned: “If the French-speaking people refuse to make reforms, they will become the gravediggers of Belgium”.
In his interview with Dag Allemaal, Paul Magnette had also mentioned common points between Belgians from different Regions: “Not so long ago, I was in Marseille. Its inhabitants have less in common with the Walloons than the Flemings with the Walloons. Just as the Flemings have less in common with the Dutch than with the Walloons. There are so many things that connect us, and not just football or food. Belgium has many assets. We “We are one of the richest and least unequal countries in the world. In 2030, Belgium will have existed for two hundred years. I see the Vivaldi government as a ten-year plan, with the objective of having a more efficient country.”
