2023-12-27 05:37:00
During this summer period, the news is a little calmer. We can therefore talk regarding everything, and not the subjects that are annoying. So we ask him:
”Where do you see yourself in six months, Paul Van Tigchelt?”
“My dream ? Open a piano bar, a super classy place where we will serve very good Gin and Tonics,” explained the Antwerp resident, in an inimitable burst of laughter. A future imagined far from politics, then?
“I think. But, for now, I’m where I’m needed and I’m not thinking too much regarding what’s next. Especially since 2023 is still a long year. I never had a fixed career plan. Everything remains possible, but I really want to devote my time to my loved ones and to other pursuits. For example, seeing more Sporting Anderlecht matches, or running several marathons, he added, all smiles. Besides, I’m looking forward to the Antwerp marathon.”
This marathon is scheduled for Sunday October 22, 2023. But Paul Van Tigchelt will not take part. However, he had prepared everything well. Everything planned. Except for the possibility that, that day, he would instead have to run to the Royal Palace, to take the oath and become the new Open VLD Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Minister for the North Sea.
gull
“I quickly understood that I was not going to go jogging, but above all that I was going to have to warn Vincent Van Quickenborne of the situation. He was in a meeting in Luxembourg. The nature of the facts left no room for doubt: a resignation was going to take place, but I didn’t say anything.”
The file forgotten in a cupboard
This major shift in the political arena is closely linked to the attack which hit Brussels on October 16, leaving two dead and one injured. The perpetrator, Abdesalem Lassoued, lived in Belgium, but he should have been sent back to Tunisia much earlier. His extradition request ended up at the Brussels prosecutor’s office, but was never processed there. Forgotten in a cupboard.
“I was the first to have this information,” recalls Paul Van Tigchelt. It was Friday October 20. It was around 8:30 a.m., I was preparing for a little jog in preparation for the marathon when the public prosecutor of Brussels called me to explain this story of a file forgotten in a cupboard. I quickly realized that I was not going to go jogging and that I should warn Vincent Van Quickenborne of the situation. He was in a meeting in Luxembourg. The nature of the facts left no room for doubt: a resignation was going to take place, but I said nothing.”
Paul Van Tigchelt at La Libre: “We have to be realistic: we are not going to get rid of drugs, but we can limit the violence that results from them”
He continues: “When Vincent Van Quickenborne arrived in Brussels, we organized a sort of crisis meeting. He felt he had to take political responsibility. The resignation was therefore imminent.” This resignation was actually announced during a press conference organized at 7:15 p.m., in the corridors of the Finance Tower, where the office of the Minister of Justice is located.
At that point, no one knew who was going to take over the job. “Honestly, we weren’t thinking regarding it yet,” says Paul Van Tigchelt. It was not the priority, there was a crisis to manage. We were thinking of something else. I wasn’t part of the preliminary discussions, in any case.”
Did Paul Van Tigchelt imagine then that he might succeed Vincent Van Quickenborne? “In my gut I felt anything might happen. It seemed unimaginable, and at the same time, I am one of Vincent Van Quickenborne’s closest collaborators, I thought. So why not. But I said that to myself, and to no one else. This decision, this choice, should not be dictated by what I wanted or what I thought.”
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – OCTOBER 22 : King Philippe receives Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) in audience for her Taking of the oath as new Minister of Justice on October 22, 2023 in Brussels, Belgium, 22/10/2023 ( Photo by Didier Lebrun / Photonews ©DLE
The birthday party that should not be missed
The next day, Paul Van Tigchelt hopes to have a little rest. He didn’t sleep much. A little lie-in wouldn’t be too much trouble, he thinks. But there’s this marathon tomorrow. And then this birthday that he cannot miss in the evening, “otherwise my wife would kill me, it was the birthday of one of her best friends”.
“I was in Kern from noon to 9:30 p.m., then I went to this birthday party with my wife,” he continues. There, a friend whispered to her: “You are going to be our future Minister of Justice”. Paul Van Tigchelt gives an embarrassed smile. But don’t answer.
Intrigued, he confides to his wife that this little phrase “does something to him”. Response from Mrs. Van Tigchelt: “In any case, you say no now, but if you are called, you will not hesitate for five seconds. So stop talking regarding it like it’s a problem.”
Paul Van Tigchelt returns home quite early. Then collapses into his bed. “The week had been particularly intense. I was exhausted. I only wanted one thing: to sleep. Then at one in the morning, my daughter wakes me up and says ‘dad, you have to call Vincent Van Quickenborne’. When I called back, he said, ‘Paul, you’re going to be a minister.’ A few hours later, a meeting was organized. And there it was.”
Two months following this unexpected appointment, does Paul Van Tigchelt have any regrets? “I prefer to have regrets regarding having tried things and realizing, later, that it wasn’t my thing, rather than regretting not having dared,” he retorts. There, I have no regrets. It was necessary to continue the work started by Vincent Van Quickenborne. I was close to him, I saw all the work carried out. I feel justified in pursuing it. At least out of respect for what he did. And then, the surrounding team didn’t move much. There is therefore a form of stability which has been maintained, and which allows the work to continue peacefully. In my own way, but calmly.”
gull
“The day I took the oath of office, I returned to the office and found the whole team, with my wife and children, waiting to applaud me. The few remaining doubts faded away that moment. Because I understood that I was supported.”
Friend Alexia Bertrand
Nothing predestined Paul Van Tigchelt to such functions. He doesn’t have the political gene in him. He considers himself first and foremost a man of the law. If he is not (yet) a political animal, it is a world that he has been in close contact with since 2003 – the year he became deputy chief of staff to Patrick Dewael (Open VLD), then Minister of the Interior. A mission he will occupy until 2008.
This same Patrick Dewael who, upon learning of the appointment of Paul Van Tigchelt, was somewhat upset. Would the former boss be upset, or even jealous, to see his former partner evolve within the Flemish liberals? “Not at all,” says the Minister of Justice. Patrick was even very happy for me. I do not deny that there were tensions within the party. But they were not linked to me, rather to the process which led to my designation. But that’s internal cooking,” Paul Van Tigchelt dodges, like a seasoned politician.
He pursues. “The day I was sworn in, I came into the office and found the whole team, with my wife and children, waiting to applaud me. The few remaining doubts faded away at that moment. Because I understood that I was supported. In terms of political partners, I can count on Alexia Bertrand. She knows what it’s like to join the government. She is an extremely intelligent woman, a hard worker who I can count on at all times. Besides, I have to send him a message now, if you allow me,” he jokes.
And which person you will never call, one asks? “Tom Van Grieken”.
gull
“When a role that requires responsibility opens up to me, I take the plunge. With one condition: I want to work while having fun. My motto? “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, that is to say “faster, higher, stronger”. That’s the motto of the Olympic games. That’s something that speaks to me.”
Operation Blackestone
Paul Van Tigchelt’s professional career is very marked by attacks. The man who was also a magistrate at the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office was in fact appointed head of Ocam in March 2016, just a few days before… the attacks of March 22 in Brussels.
“I am not afraid to take responsibility in delicate situations,” he confides. I am passionate. I have always enjoyed working in positions that required taking responsibility. When I was 9 years old, I was a class representative, and as I remember, it was already a complicated mission. But I went for it, he says. Ditto when I became the head of the boarding school in which I was enrolled during my adolescence. Or when I was responsible for trainee magistrates. When a role that requires responsibility opens up to me, I go for it. With one condition: I want to work while having fun. My motto ? “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, that is to say “faster, higher, stronger”. This is the motto of the Olympic Games. It’s something that speaks to me, that.”
Closing the interview, Paul Van Tigchelt is asked if this appointment is the most notable moment of his political career. He rolls his eyes. Then throw. “Operation Blackestone. The release of Olivier Vandecasteele is a significant moment. We allowed this man to reunite with his loved ones in Belgium. Personally, I was able to work on a file of great importance. And, with other strong personalities, we formed extraordinary bonds. It’s something unique in a professional career.”
After such moments, is he still thinking regarding one or the other marathon? “I have another marathon to run right now. Finish the work started in this office. And then, there is an electoral deadline. I don’t like losing, so I’m going to do everything to show that I’m not here to make up the numbers.”
Paul Van Tigchelt, new Minister of Justice to La Libre: “State Security is currently working on cases linked to Hamas”
1703697859
#oclock #morning #daughter #wakes #Dad #call #Van #Quickenborne #called #Paul #youre #minister
