2023-09-02 05:20:00
What was the sequence that particularly marked you during this legislature?
”The discovery of the pension supplements of the former presidents of the Chamber Siegfried Bracke (N-VA) and Herman De Croo (Open VLD). The President of the Chamber explained it to us in the office of the Chamber. We asked for a commission of inquiry which was refused by the other parties. We then dug and discovered that there was a rule which allowed all the deputies to exceed the single ceiling of 7,800 euros, or even more than 9,000 euros gross per month, in the event of accumulation. It was a strong moment, but internally, all the other parties were once morest us. In the House office, I didn’t make any friends.”
Where are the procedures?
“This privilege will be removed on January 1.”
Does it often happen to you, in the PTB group, to be alone once morest everyone in parliament?
“Yes, regularly. But we have the people with us. When you leave parliament, you get a lot of support. And even within the hemicycle, it is sometimes hard, but there are also people with whom we manage to get along.
Do you have a particular intervention strategy in the Chamber? Do you confer before a session and you decide to heckle on certain files?
”We are not in parliament to sleep. So, when one of us is in front, we defend him. We are a very dynamic group.”
Raoul Hedebouw is renowned for his shock formulas. During the Iranian visa affair, he unsheathed the formula of “Canada Dry resignation request”…
”Ha yes, Raoul, it’s our Lukaku. He is the one who will score the goals. At the same time, it is also the result of brainstorming. On Thursday morning, we are together, we give ideas. We are having a lot of fun.”
Sofie Merckx also officiates in the medical centers of the PTB Medicine for the People. ©MICHEL TONNEAU
Do you feel like the pebble in the shoes of parliamentarians?
”I would say above all that we are those who come to shake up a community that has existed for a very long time. And it disturbs. Our role is to engage in politics by bringing people’s issues to Parliament, to always bring the weight of the street to bear. We still obtained the 6% VAT on energy thanks to our petitions.”
Can we really say that it is thanks to the PTB that the VAT has been lowered? The majority disagree. She also often criticizes you for pulling the blanket on you when a decision is made by the government.
“There is always a dialectic. We have moved the lines on certain points. As early as 2008, the PTB launched an energy campaign to demand a reduction in VAT. This was put in place by the Di Rupo government and then the Swede went back to 21%. We continued this campaign and got 300,000 signatures. In parliamentary debates, the PS was once morest lowering VAT. Thomas Dermine [secrétaire d’État PS à la Relance] declared that the VAT should not be lowered, that the rich should not be helped to pay to heat their swimming pool, that the PTB was on the side of the rich… We lived through all that, but at some point, the VAT rose to 6%. Everyone is free to analyze who wins.”
Does it happen that the majority votes on amendments or texts tabled by the PTB?
”Hmm… it’s the classic majority versus game. But that does not mean that we cannot obtain victories such as, for example, with the pensions of the deputies. The PTB still manages to influence certain decisions.”
The PS often reproaches you for staying on the balcony. Ahmed Laaouej, group leader, said that your group is the janitor of parliament. How did you take it?
”We are sometimes criticized for having bad language. Obviously, we’re not the only ones. He’s a rather contemptuous figure of speech, with class contempt. As if janitors were useless. Afterwards, I think that politics is not only regarding negotiating overnight in government in a cabinet, but also regarding bringing pressure to Parliament. It’s a question of the balance of power on the ground. If one day, we manage to cancel the 1996 law which freezes wages, it will be the result of pressure from the street. I see that the PS denies this. On staying on the balcony, always staying in opposition…we’re not a party that’s meant to be in opposition. I remind you that when we entered Parliament in 2014, we only had two elected members. There we are twelve. So yes, the question of participation in a government arises. Only, we don’t want to end up like Syriza, in Greece, which once it came to power was forced to apply austerity.
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