Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) published an open letter in several Belgian newspapers on Saturday, condemning that all too often "clash prevails over dialogue" in the political arena.
In the op-ed article, the Liberal Prime Minister promised to work tirelessly for a better type of politics, after weeks of government infighting over a flagship tax reform, blocked by the fiscally-conservative francophone liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR) – who are also Open VLD's sister party.
"Dear Belgians, over the last few days you have probably opened your eyes wide as you watched the political arena. Every day, the press reports new squabbles between politicians who prefer confrontation to cooperation," writes the Prime Minister in the open letter.
"The political class is sometimes so preoccupied with itself that it forgets about the people and the causes it has to serve. I’m not blaming anyone. It happens to all of us from time to time. I’ve made mistakes myself and I regret them, but that doesn’t mean I’m resigned to them," he continued.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, State Secretary Thomas Dermine, Minister of Agriculture David Clarinval, Budget State Secretary Alexia Bertrand and Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib pictured together at the Belgian National Day 2023, in Brussels. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
"Instead of constantly passing the blame back and forth across the language border, we need to build bridges. Instead of spending our time listing everything that’s wrong, we’d be better off working hard to make things better," the leader urges, insisting that fellow citizens have a right to expect cooperation within the political world.
Alexander De Croo refrained from making promises when "too many have been thrown up in the air" but promises to "work tirelessly for better politics."
