MR has not discussed Bouchez's possible resignation

MR has not discussed Bouchez's possible resignation
Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck

There has been no meeting on a possible resignation by the leader of the Francophone liberals (MR), Georges-Louis Bouchez, the head of the party’s group in the Chamber Benoît Piedboeuf said on Sunday.

Thus far, the MR president has not yet indicated that he plans to resign and, in any event, it is up to the party’s democratic bodies to state their position, Piedboeuf said on RTL. A meeting of the party’s executive has not yet been called, he added.

"There has been no meeting,” Piedboeuf said. “Rather, we are in an appeasement phase. This type of subject needs to be discussed by the bodies.”

He added that the next internal elections for the leaders of the party’s local and district sections, which will be held soon, could be the time to “settle things appropriately.”

Recent tensions observed in MR stemmed from the announcement on Thursday morning of the MR ministerial casting on social media. Denis Ducarme was designated to replace Valérie De Bue in the government of Wallonia, and Mathieu Michel (brother of former Prime Minister Charles Michel), was slated to be Secretary of State in the Federal Government.

This game of musical chairs had to be reviewed quickly, due to a special decree, unanimously approved by the Walloon Parliament in May 2019, that provides for a minimum representation of 30% of women in the Walloon government. Replacing De Bue with Ducarme would have overturned that balance, so the party was forced to rescind its decision and keep her in the regional government.

Since then, many MR leaders have withdrawn their support from Georges-Louis Bouchez, who was elected president of the party in November 2019 with 62% of members’ votes.

The Brussels Times


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