The N-VA (New Flemish Alliance) cannot complete institutional reform in isolation. The President of the Chamber of Representatives Siegfried Bracke said this, speaking on La Première (part of the RTBF radio and television group).
Consequently, it would be stupid, he says to abandon the reforms instituted by the federal government, if we are not also in a position to complete institutional reform.
A statement by the N-VA President, Bart De Wever, in L'Echo yesterday (Wednesday) aroused much comment.
De Wever said, “If it is the electorate’s will, we will continue to govern without the PS, and if the electorate demands that we have discussions with PS, we will present our joint plan of action.”
He went on, “As political equations go, it’s not rocket science.”
This might suggest that the Flemish nationalists might join in a second federal majority without implementing an institutional program as long as the socialists were ostracized from the negotiating table.
Mr Bracke stated, “Even if the N-VA has 35%, even in that case, the N-VA would be acting alone and we could not implement institutional reforms. Lets be clear – we are not revolutionaries but ‘evolutionaries’.”
He elaborated, “However, that in no way prevents our conviction that our country is in desperate need of an institutional shake up.”
The N-VA is the leading party in Flanders. Its main preoccupation is economic and social wellbeing.
Bracke adds, “We should not neglect the economic sphere and simultaneously not complete tasks involving joint working. It is not illegal to use your brain in this country.”
The debarring stance by the N-VA regarding the PS should not be viewed as a ‘cordon sanitaire’, confirmed the President of the Chamber of Representatives, “The PS represents natural opposition. It is one or the other,” he adds.
The Brussels Times
