The Riddle of Laeken: BDW, savior of the fatherland

“Oh, but I’m good at playing statesman. If I do anything more here, I will automatically become Gaston Eyskens’, Bart De Wever jokes in the film in front of a plate of sweets, when party spokesman Philippe Kerckaert advising him to step into statesmanship after his unexpected election victory. year.

Paul Jambers’ film is a period document about De Wever, who has been chairman of the N-VA for just 20 years. During that time he emerged from a real devil to the savior of the country. Not only did he make a mark on Wetstraat, he is now also a BV. At the premiere of the film, the hall was full and other famous Flemish people were very happy to have their picture taken with the ‘political animal’.

No one in Flanders – except perhaps Ghent – still sees De Wever as a narrow-minded Flemish nationalist. In Belgium where French is spoken they consider him legitimate as prime minister. Here and there he even hopes for improvement for the south of the country, where a political landslide has occurred this year. For the first time in Wallonia, a center-right government with French liberals the MR and the center party Les Engagés is in power.

For French-speaking Belgium, the acceptance of De Wever as Prime Minister is a real turning point, the chairman of Les Engagés, Maxime Prévot, noted in his double interview by CD&V president Sammy Mahdi. “That seems obvious to the Flemish, because the N-VA has been your main party for a long time. But for French-speaking Belgium, this is a paradigm shift. This government also accepts the French speakers.’

In Belgium where the French were, it was not De Wever who was questioned, but Conner Rousseau, the head of Vooruit who did not want to negotiate the Arizona coalition anymore until Friday evening. And even if Rousseau is a master communicator, he could not shake the feeling that he was running away from his responsibility to create the same logical coalition that came out of ballot box June 9.

A poll by Het Laatste Nieuws and VTM Nieuws showed that confidence in Rousseau was the lowest of the presidents, with the exception of Vlaams Belang leader Tom Van Grieken. De Wever enjoys the most confidence, even if history seems to be repeating itself for the chairman of N-VA. Flemish minister Zuhal Demir had warned him at the N-VA party office not to separate the Flemish government talks from the federal ones, after the latter collapsed for the first time in August.

In August, MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez got the black spot, even though it was already clear that the problem was mainly Vooruit’s. As the only party on the left, Vooruit should face the criticism on the left of De Wever’s government. Rousseau seemed not to be interested in this, unless he could come out even stronger on October 13th. But that was disappointing. In Sint-Niklaas he lost out on the mayor’s sash and in Ghent his party did not follow him to form a coalition with the N-VA.

By increasingly referring to him as the leader who avoids his responsibility, De Wever broke his heart with Rousseau and blamed him. ‘What kind of signal are you giving to the people if you don’t even want to come to a compromise after five months?’ With that statement, De Wever increased the pressure on the president of Vooruit at the first appearance of ‘BDW, political animal’.

If Rousseau didn’t want to be left in the dark, he had to return to the negotiating table, which he willingly did on Thursday. The opening made by De Wever was enough to restart negotiations on the Arizona coalition, it was said. And on Friday came the definitive answer: Vooruit is participating.

Not only the Belgian people, but also the palace still believes in De Wever, who, despite the second disaster in the negotiations, can play extension after extension to save the country. When Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou, Baldwin and Albert II’s chief of staff, was still in Laeken, things were completely different. Flemish nationalists who wanted to separate the country had to be put aside as quickly as possible.

It was only when Frans Van Daele, a retired top diplomat, became King Philippe’s chief of staff that the situation changed. This turn at the palace caused a shock in French-speaking Belgium, especially when the president of Vlaams Belang Tom Van Grieken received for the first audience after the elections of May 2019. which was more important politically that from then on the palace chose the De Wever card.

Although King Philip still wonders if there is a hidden Flemish nationalist agenda behind De Wever’s role as a statesman, as he jokingly suggests in the Jambers film. The fact that Wallonia has now voted centre-right is no reason for De Wever to stop the fight for more Flemish autonomy, he says in ‘BDW, political animal’ . Although the dream of major state reform seems to have been put on hold again, as the required two-thirds majority in parliament is not close at hand.

After the premiere, De Wever gave the beginning of an answer to Laeken’s riddle in philosophical reflection: ‘After 20 years we have reached a point of political impotence.’ According to him over a long period of time there is no doubt that the administrative capacity of this country has declined. Things have been moving fast, especially since the turn of the century. There has not been a federal government since then that has been able to do what is necessary. And according to him, the political class is going further into that inability.

De Wever himself put his leadership on display when he broke his silence last week and announced in front of the cameras that he is doing his ‘stinking best’ and that he ‘ unbelievable that you are there in these circumstances – a high budget deficit, a difficult economic climate and geopolitical instability with the return of Donald Trump to the White House – they will not succeed in forming a government.” Then the horror get up

But no matter what happens, De Wever always draws the winning card. His reasoning is that Belgium will be reorganized or closed after bankruptcy. That’s how the Belgian liberator and the Flemish nationalist find each other. Even if it turns into a fiasco and there is no alternative but elections, it seems that De Wever is the only one who should not be afraid of electoral punishment.

Well doneJambers said in a voice, if the 79-year-old Flemish king gave the report, a sequel later. ‘BDW, political animal’ would be a farewell to the media at Jambers, just as De Wever seemed to be the end of the expected election case. But when the results came in on 9 June and it became clear that the N-VA, despite all expectations and opinion polls, was still bigger than Vlaams Belang, De Wever made it clear that the game was still over. “Come back in five years.”