2024-01-04 05:49:00
First weapons at Jos Chabert
Aged 22, recently graduated, Bianca Debaets feels herself growing wings and has only one desire: to leave the Flanders of her childhood, considered too perfect or even idyllic. His project: to discover unknown horizons. Suddenly, she arrives in Brussels to celebrate the end of her studies and her entry into the job market. As she walks the streets of the city, the young girl is taken by the same fascination experienced years earlier. She then decides to settle down there for a longer period and starts looking for a job.
Polyglot and passionate regarding current affairs in Brussels, Bianca Debaets is tempted by a political career in the capital. How to resist the siren call? She goes for it. His professional life changes. CD&V Minister Jos Chabert (1933-2014) gave him a leg up and hired him into his cabinet. “Working in the wake of a minister is fortunate because you learn a lot of things on the job in record time,” she observes. Debaets continues to face challenges and his career takes off. Elected municipal councilor in Ixelles in 2007, deputy in the parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region in 2009, she joined the Vervoort II government in 2014 for almost five years. She is appointed Secretary of State for Development Cooperation, Road Safety, Regional and Municipal IT and Digital Transition, Equal Opportunities and Animal Welfare.
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Activate the unemployed
Bianca Debaets lives in an apartment with a view of the Brussels canal. The neighborhood is lively. “In my building, multiculturalism is the norm. I have next-door neighbors from every continent,” she explains. In the capital of Europe, the best rubs shoulders with the worst. She says that her apartment is a stone’s throw from Maximilien Park where undocumented immigrants gather. Unfortunately, in this multicultural neighborhood, dozens of migrants mingle with the numerous coke traffickers. “I often take the metro and I frequently travel by bike. Impossible to cross the door of my apartment without having encountered a good twenty homeless people. And probably also, around ten drug addicts. We see them injecting the product,” she regrets, adding that the number of homeless people has increased by 20% in Brussels in two years.
How to get out? The problem is complex, what can Brussels do concretely? “It is a priority to use levers likely to reduce the rate of inactivity in the capital. Activating the unemployed is an absolute priority for me, the employment rate is 65% in Brussels compared to 77% for Flanders, the national average is 72%. Actiris receives 8,000 euros in subsidies to support an unemployed person. The VDAB, for its part, has 4,000 euros for the same objective. How is it possible ? While companies are asking for workers but cannot find them. Training, motivation of job seekers… nothing is going well. There are political choices to be made, of course,” underlines our interlocutor.
“Brussels is not aware of its potential”
Bianca Debaets demonstrates realism. “There has been a “let it happen, let it happen” mentality in Brussels for a long time. I remember a mayor of a Brussels municipality who said to me: are we still going to annoy people with an additional speed control? But the world is upside down… You have to respect the highway code, period, right?”
“Everything is not gloomy in Brussels either,” puts the Brussels MP into perspective. “In many cases, Brussels is not aware of its potential which, very often, remains unexploited,” underlines Bianca Debaets. “The capital of Europe has immense assets. Its population is often polyglot. Brussels has enough resources to make many foreign cities green with envy.”
Bianca Debaets is proud of “her” city. She believes that too many Flemish people in Flanders only perceive the negative sides of Brussels. They ignore the many positive aspects. “Brussels has given me a lot. The capital allowed me to appreciate the beautiful, the fair and the true in others. I am more open, more tolerant, I think I am further away from parochial quarrels such as there can be in rural areas. Being able to rub shoulders with all these different cultures is a godsend. Brussels is a compendium of 180 nationalities. It is the city where we find the greatest diversity following… Dubai.”
”The cultural offer in Brussels is exceptionally rich. The two are linked. In Brussels, no one will stop you from being who you are. In my village in East Flanders, it is almost impossible to escape the gaze of others. Everyone knows everything regarding everyone. The slightest deviation causes chatter. It’s stifling sometimes,” she analyzes.
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Unilingual hospitals?
Bianca Debaets dreams of a city where everyone feels safe. In recent years, insecurity has become the obsession of many residents. The number of burglaries and assaults is on the rise. More and more parents no longer dare to leave their children on the streets in the evening.
As for the cleanliness of Brussels, it is a permanent headache. “Yet the Austrian capital Vienna has managed to erase its past as a dirty city. She made cleanliness a top priority. And she succeeded. Raise awareness among residents, sanction where necessary, the voluntary policy has borne fruit in Vienna, why not take inspiration from this example here in Brussels,” asks the CD&V elected official.
We undoubtedly remember the sad news. Last December, a baby born to Dutch-speaking parents died following being admitted to the emergency room in a Brussels hospital. The staff only spoke French, it seems. They tried to explain in English what he was suffering from, it was complicated. What does the CD&V MP think? “The media reported on this dramatic death. But every day, there are dozens of people who complain regarding not being able to express themselves in Dutch in the Brussels public hospitals of the Iris network which should have bilingual services. However, in reality, this is far from being the case. While private hospitals manage to recruit nursing staff who are fluent in Dutch,” Bianca Debaets is surprised.
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