2023-07-07 15:02:00
She had announced that she was leaving politics and yet, four years later, here she is again in front of the news. Françoise Bertieaux will be the new Minister of Higher Education. The president of the MR presented it in the morning alongside the outgoing minister Valérie Glatigny and the minister-president Pierre-Yves Jeholet.
The Woluwéenne takes over a series of skills from Valérie Glatigny who resigns for health reasons. Françoise Bertieaux inherited Scientific Research, University Hospitals, Youth Aid, Houses of Justice, Youth and Promotion of Brussels. The Minister-President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Pierre-Yves Jeholet (MR) takes over Sport and Education from social advancement.
The choice of experience
The choice to appoint Françoise Bertiaux came as a surprise because her name did not appear in the speculators’ shortlist. But afterwards, it is perceived as strategic and judicious. Born on September 17, 1958 in Uccle, Françoise Bertieaux is today – after 4 years spent in New York – a Wolusaint-Petrusian. Like her predecessor, the liberal will be able to embody a strong face of the reform movement south of the capital.
Françoise Bertieaux is no novice. In 40 years in the political world, the Brussels woman has been a municipal councilor in Etterbeek, provincial councilor for Brabant (before the province split in two), parliamentary attaché, head-cab of Jacques Vandenhaute, adviser to the president of MR Jean Gol and also adviser to Armand De Decker. Before she left politics, she was nicknamed the Madame Teaching of the MR, in particular for her good knowledge of the files and her clear opinions. When we ask her about her worries about teaching, she replies tit for tat: “If we start with worries, it’s not okay.”
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For many young people who have completed their humanities in front of or not in front of their screens, entering higher education has been an extremely difficult ordeal.
Before qualifying. “It’s been almost 25 years since I started at the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. There have always been problems. Some were partly resolved by Valérie Glatigny, who was the problem of underfunding and the massification of higher education. There is the problem of student precariousness which has perhaps increased with the massification of higher education. There are problems with the level of success and I think that the covid has not helped this serene transition between compulsory education and higher education. For many young people who have completed their humanities in front of or not in front of their screens, entering higher education has been an extremely difficult ordeal. I’m aware that there are plenty of challenges to overcome but I’m not going to start with worries, otherwise it won’t go well.
Michael Jordan’s comeback, but without basketball
To those who described the management of the Glatigny method as elitist, Bertieaux replies, without bluntness: “A certain left will qualify me as an elitist, so I don’t worry. I know that we are true liberals, that we defend values that can enable everyone to bring out the best in themselves. If this is being elitist, then there you go. But the left will always say it in relation to us.”
To avoid overloading it, to enable it to take over current files on the fly, the MR has chosen to redistribute two of its skills to Pierre-Yves Jeholet. It was the Minister-President himself who insisted on taking up these matters. “It’s the comeback of Michael Jordan, but without the sporting skills,” joked the president of MR Georges-Louis Bouchez.
Already at the heart of a controversy
Barely appointed, the future minister experienced her first controversy. Internet users have unearthed old tweets where she questioned the usefulness of the vaccine against covid. Tweets that go wrong when you are in charge of higher education, university hospitals and scientific research.
On the side of the student unions, the minister is urged to take into account the difficulties they have been going through since the Covid. The FEF recalls the difficulties linked to the cost of studies, student precariousness, sexist and sexual violence in higher education or even the difficult access to housing. “Let’s not weigh our words, the situation is dramatic. Direct and structural measures must be taken. […] Madame Françoise Bertieaux, you are now the Minister for Students, do not disappoint them”, indicates the Federation.
Françoise Bertieaux will be sworn in as minister on July 19.
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