2023-10-12 17:16:00
A dramatic twist in the Metropolis. Tuesday evening, Erica Caluwaerts, the only Open VLD alderman at the Antwerp college, announced that she was leaving her party – putting her local section in trouble. The lawyer, however, refuses to abandon her scabinal duties. She indicated her intention to sit as an independent while retaining her – heavy – skills: Economy, Employment, Innovation, Industry, Digitization, Marketing and Communication, Legal Affairs and Public Domain . Mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) took note of his decision. He emphasizes that the alderman’s decision does not endanger his majority, the main components of which are the N-VA and Vooruit. Mathematically, the college can easily do without the Open VLD.
The president of the Antwerp section, Fons Borginon, for his part does not rule out a departure of the Antwerp majority to join the opposition until the elections. He also asked the college to remove the alderwoman from her functions and thus prevent her from sitting as an independent. “It would be more logical if its skills might be distributed within the majority parties N-VA and Vooruit,” observes F. Borginon. But the Antwerp majority has so far preferred not to intervene in this matter which concerns the liberal family.
“The strategy of the Open VLD is clear: bet everything on Alexander De Croo”
The saga Sihame El Kaouakibi
The affair comes at the worst time for the Open VLD, which is suffering a real erosion of its executives one year before the elections. The liberal Antwerp family is struggling to find strong figures. Flemish entrepreneur and MP Christian Leysen will no longer stand for re-election in 2024. Elected officials Annick De Ridder and Ludo van Campenhout left the Open VLD a few years ago to join… the N-VA. And the Sihame El Kaouakibi saga (the MP prosecuted for fraud and who will have to appear before the council chamber once more on October 26) seems to have dealt a blow to the party, already weakened.
And today, it is Alderwoman Caluwaerts who voluntarily leaves the ranks of the Open VLD or says she feels uncomfortable and who announces the creation of a new liberal party in her city. With less than a year before the elections, this mightn’t come at a worse time. So who will take the liberal list to Antwerp? The interim president, Tom Ongena, certifies that we will soon know the new liberal “figurehead”, this white rabbit that everyone is waiting for. But the vagueness persists.
At its lowest in the polls, the Open VLD fears for its future: “Were we right to accept the post of Prime Minister?”
Schiltz échevin?
Caluwaerts’ decision to leave the party might open up new prospects for Willem-Frederik Schiltz, the head of the Open VLD group in the Flemish parliament. The person concerned does not wish to speak at this stage. But, two years ago, it was he who should have been alderman instead of Erica Caluwaerts who owes her position to the bad relations between De Wever and Schiltz.
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