Just days after Flemish rightwing party N-VA announced that it would stand for election in Wallonia next year, leader of the Francophone liberal MR party Georges-Louis Bouchez headed to Antwerp to campaign in front of N-VA leader Bart De Wever's city hall.
With a Dutch slogan stating 'In Wallonië heb je 50 tinten links. En ons.' ("In Wallonia you have 50 shades of leftists. And us."), Bouchez wants to make it clear to De Wever that MR stands apart from the Francophone socialist party PS in discussions about new government formations.
"Antwerp is the most important city in Flanders. It is therefore symbolic that we start our pre-campaign here. This is not a message to De Wever, but to tell Flemish voters not fall for the story that there are only left-wing parties in Wallonia," Bouchez told Het Laatste Nieuws.
Despite launching the campaign directly in front of the city hall, Bouchez did not speak to De Wever.
Other options than De Wever
Last weekend, the N-VA leader made it clear that he is willing to do everything he can to get rid of "a very left-wing government" in Wallonia. This would include putting his party – which has historically pitted Flemish interests against those in Wallonia – up for election in the Francophone part of the country.
With their right-leaning views, De Wever's party could potentially harvest votes from Walloons who would otherwise have voted for Bouchez's liberal-conservative MR party – a line of attack that Bouchez stated "does not irritate" him.
"I do not listen to everything Bart De Wever says. I know he likes to explain things and he likes to give interviews. We can talk about it for days afterwards, but it is not always serious. The aim of our campaign here is to inform the Flemish voter that there are other options than just Bart De Wever's model."
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Bouchez refrained from calling his decision to come to Antwerp a response to De Wever's statements. He said that MR's political vision would fit well with various Flemish parties. "We are the only French-speaking centre-right party. The way we see it, the next Federal Government should consist of the coalition that existed with N-VA, Open VLD and CD&V."
"N-VA always complains that the French speakers are left-wing but if a partner on the right presents itself, they would rather make an agreement with Paul Magnette's PS, which is incomprehensible," he stressed.
