The bullet is therefore through the church: Facon becomes the first Corona Commissioner of our country. It was already leaked this afternoon that he would be nominated to the Consultation Committee between the states and the federal government. That has now happened. Facon will also have a deputy next to him, the French-speaking Carole Schirvel.
De Croo did not spare the words of praise for the new corona commissioner at the press conference. He calls him a “key figure” and “widely respected and appreciated”.
The Corona Commissioner is a new position, which is being created by the De Croo government to streamline the corona policy. Facon will mainly have to return logic and direction to the tangle of task forces, consultation bodies and advisory committees in the fight against the corona virus. “The intention is that he will become the pivot of the corona policy. He has to be the oil in the machine for the cooperation between the entities of our country to run smoothly, ”says De Croo. Facon will also be commissioned to operationalize the coronabarometer, which has already been largely developed in the Celeval advisory group.
Facon has been on the front line against the corona virus for months. He played an important role in the transformation of hospitals in the first wave of the pandemic, among other things. Hundreds of extra beds were quickly provided in intensive care units, and corona patients were placed in separate hospital wards. Facon has recently also become part of the Celeval, the federal evaluation unit that advises the National Security Council.
How is Pedro Facon?
– 39 years old
– Born in Kortrijk, lives in Beersel
– Living together
– Master of Political Science (KU Leuven)
– Researcher Government Institute (KU Leuven)
– Strategy and organization advisor National Institute for Sickness and Disability Insurance (NIHDI) 2005-2013
– Head of cabinet health care minister Maggie De Block (Open Vld) 2013-2017
– Director-General of Health Care at the Federal Public Service of Health
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Colleagues praise Facon for his strength, diligence and knowledge. Microbiologist Herman Goossens (UAntwerpen) calls the choice for the new corona commissioner “great, brilliant.” Goossens sees Facon as a figure that can unite the north and south of the country. “It makes me very happy. I have the feeling that Flanders and Wallonia are drifting a bit apart in the corona debate. People are much less concerned in French-speaking Belgium than in Flanders. A different wind is blowing there. ”
Virologist Marc Van Ranst is also enthusiastic. “Pedro is a specialist in the optimal cooperation of the various“ federated entities ”in our country”, he writes on Twitter. “He knows his way around government, cabinets and administrations. During this crisis he organized the hospital sector very well. ”
‘Time and energy wasted’
One of Facon’s hobbyhorses is that the complex division of powers in this country initially thwarted corona policy. “An awful lot of time and energy has been wasted in this crisis,” Facon said in mid-May interview with The morning. “I don’t want to blame you. I am convinced that everyone is doing their utmost and I enjoy working and working well with colleagues from the federal states, but the structures make cooperation more difficult. ”
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