Bart De Wever: “It’s confederalism or nothing”

In the breakfast interview on the De Ochtend radio show, N-VA Chairman Bart De Wever added the final details to the strategy for 2024: “I only want to talk to the PS party about one thing: Confederalism If we want to make structural changes, then we have to change the structures. Confederalism is the structural change that this country needs. The basic principle of confederalism is that Flanders and Wallonia are the owners of all powers. They exercise these themselves, but can also make decisions together and manage certain powers together at the confederal level, in both of their interests. This completely reverses the logic. Instead of transferring federal powers to Flanders and Wallonia, these powers can be transferred to the confederal level. Forced cooperation is replaced by voluntary cooperation. Must becomes will. Dismantling from above becomes building up from below. Confederalism is therefore deciding together on what we want to do together. confederalism . We must draw a line in the sand. Otherwise, our prosperity will be gone in a few years. In Flanders, too. That’s why I say clearly to people: it is time to choose.”

After the 2024 elections, Bart De Wever only wants to talk with the PS party if it is to discuss confederalism. “Continuing the current policy is the worst thing you can do for Flanders. That is the orchestra on the Titanic. We must take on the confrontation. That is not without risks, but it is the only chance to save ourselves.”

The worst and getting even worse

De Wever’s analysis of the current situation is of great concern. “We are the worst in the entire industrialised world. On average, the government takes 55% of our wages. We can’t do anything more in terms of spending. The budget is the worst in Europe and is getting even worse.”

The ship is sinking, and we are on it

According to De Wever, this worsening is mainly due to Social security Social security is currently managed at the Federal level in Belgium. The most important pillars of Belgian social security are: sickness and invalidity insurance (NIDHI), pensions, unemployment insurance and child allowances. In addition, occupational illness, occupational accidents and annual holidays are dealt with at this level. Some Flemish parties have been campaigning for years for (large parts of) social security to be transferred to the Regions and Communities. social security . “In 2013, we spent EUR 99 billion on this. Next year, it will be more than EUR 150 billion, and then there’s the pension bomb that still has to explode. An additional EUR 20 billion will be added annually. The ship is sinking while we are on it.”

Time for a major clean-up

It is therefore time for some bitter truths, says De Wever. “We will have to work longer to get our pension. We must do away with all those generous pension schemes and, in time, those high civil servants’ pensions as well. All kinds of urgent medical assistance for newcomers, unending unemployment benefits, the artist’s status, etc., everything needs a major clean-up. Surely we must be able to promise the generations who built up the prosperity of Flanders a good old age?”

The PS party is the trade union of the passives

But this cannot be solved in a federal context, says De Wever. “People must realise how serious the situation is and that the PS party is deliberately organising all of this. Because in a crisis, the government spends money, and the socialists like that. Magnette told me that himself. But in the meantime, the savings of working Flemish people are melting away and that meltwater is filling the wells of the inactive. There is a union of the passives, of those who don’t want to reform, of those who think this can go on for a long time, and that union is called the PS. We must put an end to that.”

Prime Minister De Croo is an emperor who has no clothes

“The PS insults productive Flemish voters so badly that they eventually become angry and gravitate towards the extremes. That is also its intention, because the PS prefers to govern with very small Flemish parties. These must then all huddle together to become a majority - not even a Flemish majority - while the PS is in charge. Then you can sit in the Prime Minister’s office at Wetstraat 16 as a Fleming, just as De Croo does, who is no more than a puppet on a string. It’s painful to see. The emperor no longer has any clothes on,” Bart says.

Playing Santa Claus in a graveyard

“If they want to organise semi-communist policy in Wallonia – or totally communist policy with the PTB (the labour party) – then they must do it on their own account. We in the north want to protect our prosperity that we have built up through our productivity and hard work. That is our first duty: to keep our domestic situation healthy. There will always be social problems, and you must try to solve them, but that is not possible if you structurally and systematically live beyond your means. That’s how you end up undermining everything. You can’t play Santa Claus in a graveyard. We are not doing that in Flanders, where we are heading for a healthy budget in 2027. In the meantime, Vivaldi (the De Croo coalition government parties), has to submit a fake budget that even then is the worst in Europe,” Bart De Wever asserts.

It is time to choose

Bart De Wever therefore has a clear message for the citizens who will make a choice in 2024: “Stop voting for parties that tell you before the elections what must happen, but just accept the status quo after the elections, as happened in 2019. Make sure that no new government that includes the De Croo government parties can be formed again, and make sure that the parties that manage it anyway, and then once again put the Greens in charge of energy policy against their better judgement, are taught that they must never do that again. And then anything becomes possible.”

“This country is completely exhausted,” Bart De Wever concludes. “It is time to choose.”