He pulled the sheet all the way to himself and gave political lessons à volonté. It is a matter of emphasizing his statesmanship and hammering home the European idea once again, using images of Churchill, Knack founder Frans Verleyen or the murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. But only very rarely was his soul peeked into. And he expertly parried a few critical questions.
Which fragment stuck with you the most?
Certainly not the first, obligatory fragment about Eddy Merckx who, in 1969, outpaces his competitors at the Ballon d’Alsace and destroys them one by one, in order to rush to his first Tour victory. Well known, namely. Because we already knew that Verhofstadt is “an avid cyclist” (he repeated it several times, just to be sure). Yes, sir, three times a week he cycles 200 kilometers in all weather conditions, at the very least 15 years old. old 525 Carbon bicycle van den Eddy. And Merckx, who was sometimes allowed to go on business trips to China when Verhofstadt was Prime Minister, for example.
More captivating were the downright hilarious images of Frans Verleyen, founder of Knack, opinion maker and Burgundian Wetstraat journalist who “stimulated” Verhofstadt and was “curious about his ideology”: “He gave me a stand. He was interested in my thinking. As a liberal youth chairman, I even made the cover of Knack.” The intertwining of journalism and politics? Here it was covered with the mantle of love. We also see the bearded Verleyen sailing on the Nile in Egypt with his ever-tanned voice and declaring with bare chest that “Egyptians are married to the earth”. It becomes a real roar of laughter when ‘Sus’, visible in the oil, recites an erotic poem by Jan Engelman, Melodie des Herzens, in a summer garden with swirling hand gestures: “Much in the past, the philomel sang / for Magdalena’s flower bower / and the wind blew in my hair .” You are in stitches, but it is strange that neither Thomas nor Verhofstadt flinch or take advantage of this. With Verleyen’s early death – from Hodgkin’s disease – Guy feels as if “he has lost his arms and legs” and loses a father figure. But wait a minute, why doesn’t this item ask about the implosion and staff vaudeville at the current Open Vld? It was visibly agreed that this subject would be avoided.
A black-and-white film of the first meeting of European heads of state with Winston Churchill in 1948, “who surprised everyone by speaking French”, was also memorable. All the more so we see how the voluminous British statesman and war hero quietly and for a long time puffs away on his big cigar in a full meeting, as if the hall in The Hague is about to burst into flames at any moment. Verhofstadt, dryly: “If there is a founder of the European movement, it was Churchill.”
What was the most surprising thing we learned about the guest?
Gosh. Verhofstadt did not make any really famous revelations, he kept a tight rein. That he is a little more at home than before? That he still wants grandchildren? Or still produces wine in Italy? And his wife is now doing the casting at the Collegium Vocale? Well. It is certain that the East Flemish man still seems as politically driven as when he was called ‘da joenk’ and as an ideological sharpener he could pick the nails from under the blood of his opponent. He is now seventy, but it doesn’t show: no gray hair and even a stubbly beard doesn’t make him a fraction older.
Vanderveken may have claimed that this was not a “political talk show”, but Verhofstadt did not let that bother him. During the sometimes messy conversation, he was able to constantly polish his record with great dexterity. Although there were sudden bursts of mea culpas: “I realize that I was not a pleasant politician in my early days and that I acted too forcefully.” And after singing the praises of his budget achievements (“Dehaene has done his part, I have done mine and as a result we have gotten the financial relations in Belgium and the budget debt under control”), he admitted that figures pale in comparison when you compare in Rwanda standing alone in a church among the corpses of the genocide. And that politics should be “about values and people as such.” Shouldn’t it always be about that, Vanderveken asked delicately? And whether the Rwanda Commission was his greatest achievement? Or was it the Brexit guidance? “Ah no, because that was negotiating a defeat.” Verhofstadt made one more remarkable knee-jerk reaction: “Yes, I was wrong about immigrant voting rights. As Prime Minister, I should have come up with a compromise proposal. People expect a politician to solve something like this and build bridges.”
Also striking: his statements about American President George W. Bush: “The political distance with Bush was great, but believe me, he is one of the most sympathetic people you can meet. I was against the war in Iraq, and he knew it. But in general, Democrats are much more distant and haughty than Republicans.”
Also funny: Verhofstadt’s 99-year-old mother has always been his biggest supporter and still reprimands him when he goes too crazy on television. When the young boy was on an election list for the first time in Ghent in 1976, she was frantically busting leaflets and the young Verhofstadt received 780 preferential votes, right from fourteenth place, good for a seat in the municipal council. “That’s the only election result I remember.” Would it?
Which fragment was the most unexpected?
Perhaps that is about Israeli Prime Minister Yithzak Rabin, peacemaker, architect of the Oslo Accords and perhaps pioneer of a two-state solution, until he was murdered by an Orthodox Israeli student on November 4, 1995 and the genie came back out of the bottle. Voluntarist Verhofstadt used Rabin as an example of a politician who can make an incredible difference. “You can’t do anything as an individual, it is sometimes said about politics. But you can do something, as long as you do it with conviction. If Rabin had not been assassinated, Israel today would be completely different.”
Strangely enough, this fragment turned out to be the springboard for talking about Rwanda. That didn’t work well. And Vanderveken was also bothered by all those triple jumps towards tricky political issues. Because yes, why are there no sequences about Rwanda shown? Through a news report about the Maidan revolution in Ukraine (shocking images, by the way), Verhofstadt was able to express his opinion about the Russia-Ukraine war. But even there they remained platitudes. “Where are the fascists and the Nazis? In Russia. Ukraine must win. Otherwise, Putin will also invade the Baltic states and Moldova.”
This broadcast of Only Elvis Remains evolved into a long version of De Afspraak, with the only oracular guest: Verhofstadt.
Which fragments were we missing?
The fact that Verhofstadt also profiles himself as a reader and culture lover was rather difficult to realize, except through the film Una giornata particolare by Ettore Scola or an opera by Monteverdi. Thomas had another video in store about Ai WeiWei, but it no longer made the ballot. Verhofstadt quickly ran through the biography of the Chinese artist and noted that his father Ai Qing – who spent a long time in labor camps – was actually much braver than his son. Because yes, Ai Wei Wei gave up after 81 days of interrogations and moved to the West for safety.
The fragment in which Colin Powell bluntly stated in the UN Security Council that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was also cut short. “The entire war in Iraq was a rigged game,” Verhofstadt emphasized. And that he was so proud that Belgium never took part in it under his rule. Even more, he vividly remembered that tens of thousands of people took to the streets against the Iraq war and in favor of the government’s position. “That must have been the first time someone demonstrated for the government,” he laughed exuberantly. And we were also deprived of a notorious fragment about his cook Maria. This edition of Only Elvis Remains proved to be a tough one, with countless missed opportunities. As if the chemistry between Verhofstadt and Vanderveken had been nipped in the bud early on.
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2023-12-02 10:57:09
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