The chairman of the French-speaking liberals, Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR), confirms that he wants to submit electoral lists in Flanders in 2029 and is working on the establishment of a national liberal party.
He made this announcement on Tuesday during a bilingual student debate organised by the Liberal Flemish Student Association (LVSV) at the Vrije Bouchez has been toying with the idea of submitting electoral lists in Flanders for some time, although this had not been confirmed in so many words until Tuesday.
During the question and answer session at the end of the student debate, the liberal chairman was asked a question about this.
The MR chairman replied by stating that his party already has more than 2,000 members in Flanders and that there is a lot of interest "in the MR programme in Flanders". He also confirmed that his party is taking concrete steps to ‘serve these Flemish MR members in their own language’. ‘In the coming weeks, we will start publishing party communications in both national languages."
"Whether we will also submit lists in Flanders is not out of the question at this stage," said Bouchez. ‘There are still many issues to discuss, but it is definitely a goal I am pursuing."
Previously, Brussels Minister-President Boris Dilliès from MR was engulfed in national outcry due to poor Dutch-language skills.
Bouchez says he wants to establish a Flemish MR for two reasons, including, on the one hand, "the creation of a national party" and the fact that the Belgian state will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2030.
"The dividing line in Belgium today is no longer about languages, but rather – as in all countries – about the contrast between left and right."Bouchez himself would have more affinity with "representatives of the N-VA in Antwerp than with socialists from my own city, Mons."
Bouchez also returned to the debate about the Dutch language skills of his Minister-President in the Brussels-Capital Region, Boris Dilliès (MR), who is under fire for his poor command of Dutch.
"What bothers me most is that we are looking at details with a magnifying glass," he said. "In this country, if you talk nonsense in both national languages, you are a genius. But if you say something intelligent in a single language, you are a problem."
According to his chairman, Dilliès will be a better minister-president than his PS predecessor Rudi Vervoort. "After all, the perfectly bilingual Rudi Vervoort never said or did anything," Bouchez added.
