2024-01-15 19:28:00
“We can therefore go to the voters (during the polls on June 9, editor’s note) with our heads held high. We have done our job,” declared Mr. Ongena in front of an audience of activists and representatives of the Open Vld. gathered in the La Madeleine room in the company of the head of the list lined up by the parties for the next elections.
This New Year’s reception took place less than five months before the federal, regional and European elections, while the Prime Minister’s party finds itself on the defensive. In a poll published in mid-December, the Flemish Liberals were ranked last among the parties in Flanders, with 7.1% of voting intentions.
The party president, Tom Ongena, however, indicated in his speech that he did not despair of doing better. “In the weeks and months to come, we will launch into the electoral battle with our heads held high and with full conviction, to convince the many voters who have not yet made their decision,” he said on Monday.
Mr. Ongena wants to convince these undecided voters thanks to the liberal record of recent years. He praised the action of Mr. De Croo, under whose leadership our country “is one of the rare European countries to have emerged stronger from the energy crisis.” He also mentioned the expansion of “flexi-jobs” and the introduction of the Flemish employment bonus, the “jobbonus”. “We, the liberals, have made the difference. Open Vld can therefore “go towards the voter with its head held high,” he added.
And these elections will be crucial, warned the liberal president. Prosperity and freedom are at stake, he stressed, mocking socialists and communists, “who block necessary reforms” and “green parties, who are increasingly attracted by the madness of degrowth “.
Mr. Ongena also described as an “unrealistic game” the proposal of the president of the N-VA, Bart De Wever, who wants the rapid formation of a sort of business cabinet following the elections; in anticipation of more significant reforms, particularly institutional ones.
The Flemish liberals will face “institutional adventures” following the elections on June 9, Mr. De Croo confirmed in front of a won over audience. In recent months, the Prime Minister has often presented himself and his party as being in opposition to the positions defended by the Flemish nationalists of the N-VA.
He maintained that view Monday evening. While Mr. De Wever swears by the establishment of confederalism for Belgium, Mr. De Croo assured that the Liberals would pass their turn for “institutional adventures with our future”. “Let’s not get lost in endless discussions regarding yet another state reform. It’s a waste of energy and prosperity,” said Mr. De Croo.
The N-VA threatens to form a government with Vlaams Belang if it is further excluded from federal power
Open Vld wants to make the country more efficient, with “less government, less administration and less hassle”. “But not if the intention is to allow our country to be reformed for the umpteenth time. To divide things, you have to go to the magicians,” he said.
Without mentioning his own ambitions – such as continuing to occupy Seize rue de la Loi -, he stressed that the federal government he leads has created 300,000 jobs in times of crisis, that Belgian economic growth is double that of the euro zone and that it helped the middle class during the health and energy crises “much better than (what was done) in the rest of Europe”.
A leader of the Open Vld particularly applauded Monday evening was the recent Minister of Justice, Paul Van Tigchelt, who has become one of the strong men of the liberals in Antwerp.
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