2023-12-30 06:19:00
Unlike others, Céline Tellier didn’t have to decide in a minute. When the proposal to present her candidacy at the party’s general assembly reached her, she had a few days to think regarding it. “Jean-Marc Nollet made it clear to me that the decision depended on the general assembly,” she explains more than four years later. Écolo’s proposal is unexpected. “There had been prior contacts on the merits at the time of the Climate marches and following the elections when the PS and Ecolo discussed the Poppy formula (Editor’s note: a minority coalition with external support from the PTB whose contours were not ‘were not very clear). But it was linked to my functions within Inter-Environnement Wallonie. This was also the case with the staffs of other political parties”.
A firm is an SME
Céline Tellier will not say yes to Jean-Marc Nollet right away. “What interested me above all was to know if the points of attention of Inter-Environnement Wallonie were retained in the government agreement. I accepted the blow and analyzed the proposal in detail. But I must admit that at the start, I wasn’t necessarily up for going. In the end, I said to myself that in terms of climate and environment, this was the most important decade that was beginning. And I said yes.”
After an almost complete legislature, does Céline Tellier regret having made this choice which made her a politician in her own right? “No, I have no regrets. It is true that the first months were rock’n’roll. I had to build my cabinet. Creating a firm is like creating an SME of 45 people. Even before being able to do so, we already had to respond to the Walloon Parliament, discover the corpses in the cupboards and respond to the various requests.”
A few weeks ago, the minister found herself confronted with a health scandal linked to PFAS pollution in certain Walloon municipalities. Attacked in Parliament by the opposition, but also by the MR who sits in the majority, the minister defended herself, held back and even if questions still arise regarding her action in this specific matter, she does not did not resign. “These are not easy times to live through on a personal level, but crises are part of political life. We had the flood crisis before. The most difficult thing is to have citizens in front of you who ask legitimate questions and who want answers.” Céline Tellier recognizes that this exercise is essential. On the other hand, she deplores certain behaviors within the political class. “The intellectual dishonesty of some people is a real problem. No matter how much you explain, they pretend not to understand. It doesn’t make political office bigger.”
By becoming a minister, Céline Tellier will have discovered a new universe where “work is punctuated by the mechanics of intercabinets, that of Parliament but also by the fact that things can happen without warning”. “There is a relationship with time that is very special,” she points out. The Walloon minister, however, tries to preserve a certain balance between her professional and private life despite a “job that cannibalizes a lot of time”.
Candidate for elections
Céline Tellier seems to have taken a liking to it since she will lead the green list of Walloon Brabant in view of the regional election on June 9, 2024. “It was not an obvious decision. I hadn’t taken the party card until recently. Initially, I only wanted to serve one mandate and experience the role. I finally wanted to really go to the end by presenting myself in front of the voter. It’s the field visits that remind us why we do this.”
By being a candidate, Céline Tellier is obviously not certain of being elected and if she is, there is no certainty that she will be minister once more. Parliamentary life does not scare him. “The job of a deputy is above all to control the government, but if I become a deputy, there are things that I would like to do in addition. We sometimes forget that an MP plays a role in legislative work. In Parliament, there are brains available.”
Jean-Marc Nollet defends Céline Tellier
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