With the departure of Conner Rousseau, Vooruit loses its political top spot seven months before the elections. Yet not all socialists are moping in the corner. ‘This is a relief for Magnette.’
Like a whirlwind that took everything in its path, that is how Conner Rousseau’s spectacular passage in the Wetstraat can best be described. At the age of 26 he was elected party chairman of SP.A, a year later he renamed the crippled party the ‘movement’ Vooruit. A radical choice that paid off. Not only did Rousseau become one of the most popular politicians in Flanders, Vooruit also steadily climbed in the polls.
After the high flight, the deep fall followed on Friday. Rousseau has increasingly come under fire in recent months due to a series of incidents. Complaints were filed about alleged inappropriate behavior, all of which were dismissed. Rumors about a racist incident at a café in Sint-Niklaas further damaged his aura of invincibility. The revelation of the details of that drunken night ultimately destroyed him.
The affair leaves deep marks within Vooruit. Even when Rousseau’s racist and sexist statements became known, party members continued to defend their chairman – to whom they had tied their fate – through thick and thin. Against some of the red supporters. That damage will be difficult to repair before the 2024 elections. Let alone that Vooruit can soon present itself as the alternative to Vlaams Belang.
The café incident seems to be the apotheosis of a series of controversial statements by Rousseau about migration and equal opportunities, with which he positioned the socialists on the hard Danish line. He felt ‘not in Belgium’ when he drove through Molenbeek, and he proposed phasing out child benefits in exchange for free childcare, or taking away the living wage for newcomers. He always got away with it, even though many Vooruiters disagreed with him.
Important asset
The great danger is that the cacophony within the party will now regain the upper hand without a strict conductor. Although that doesn’t seem to be so bad. Personal relationships are a lot warmer today than a few years ago. “I see friendship and cohesion. That is a relief in current politics, also with the past of our own party,” said Deputy Prime Minister Frank Vandenbroucke at the presentation of Rousseau’s successor Melissa Depraetere.
Vooruit does not immediately appear to be heading for an identity crisis. Depraetere emphasizes that she will continue the substantive line of her ‘compagnon de route’ unabated. “It is not that Conner has been the only one to chart that course in recent years,” she says.
The change may even turn out better than expected. As a child from a working-class family, Depraetere has an important advantage. Her mother is a cleaning lady at the OCMW, her father was until recently a welder in a factory. For the first time in a long time, the socialists have a figurehead who knows what it is like to have to make ends meet on a low income. A strong selling point in the fight against PVDA and Vlaams Belang.
It is no coincidence that Depraetere was surrounded by a handful of party figureheads at its launch. As Limburgs Vooruit chairman Alain Yzermans noted in The Importance of Limburg: “Conner was one swallow, but we have more swallows coming into spring. Perhaps this is the right time to show that our party had not become a monolith dependent on one figure.”
Privateer on the coast
Who is already breathing a sigh of relief is PS chairman Paul Magnette. PS and Vooruit may share the same headquarters, but lately there has been increasing noise on the line between them. On the French-speaking side, Rousseau’s statements were taken seriously. Magnette was allowed to come and explain it every time. “Rousseau’s statements about Molenbeek made the Brussels PS federation furious,” says political scientist Pascal Delwit (ULB).
There is also another reason why, according to Delwit, Rousseau’s departure must mean “a certain relief” for Magnette. Without any major mishaps, it looks like the Socialists will become the largest political family in the federal parliament after the 2024 elections. Magnette wants to become Prime Minister, but Rousseau was on the coast as a privateer. That threat has now passed.
It is difficult to estimate exactly what Rousseau’s departure means for the formation of the government. The fact is that all Flemish party leaders who negotiated with the current federal government have now left: Joachim Coens (CD&V), Egbert Lachaert (Open Vld), Meyrem Almaci (Groen) and Rousseau. The axis between Vooruit and N-VA, which was mainly an axis between Rousseau and N-VA chairman Bart De Wever, is also suddenly no longer evident.
Depraetere already announced her preference for the Flemish coalition a few months ago The Sunday: “If you do the math, you may not be able to go next to N-VA or Vlaams Belang. And if you know that we will certainly not govern with Vlaams Belang, then there is only one party left.”
And Rousseau himself? It has not yet been fully counted. To date, he is still the Flemish party leader for Vooruit in East Flanders. If it depends on Depraetere, he can stay that way. So a comeback of the ‘uppersos’ is not completely ruled out.
