Bart De Wever: “Vivaldi has become a swear word in Flanders. This is quite understandable.”

On the sidelines of the N-VA Family Day, Bart De Wever spoke with someone from the De Zevende Dag television programme. Among other things, he spoke about the absolute necessity of saying goodbye to the “Vivaldi” coalition government after the 9 June elections and forming a serious core cabinet with a majority in all the federal states as soon as possible to tackle the socio-economic challenges while also working out a thorough state reform.

According to De Wever, the savings operation announced by Prime Minister De Croo is “pure air guitar” (referring to Van Quickenborne’s famous air guitar session). “The Swedish coalition ended with a deficit of EUR 3.5 billion. We already have a gap of EUR 30 billion. What savings is De Croo actually talking about? I only see the huge expenditures driven by the PS party paid out to passive voters, living wage earners, the long-term unemployed, and so on.”

Vivaldi II

“No one on the Flemish side wants to be associated with Vivaldi anymore. Even the Greens and the Prime Minister’s own party pressed the red button during the VOKA The Vlaams netwerk van ondernemingen (VOKA, Flemish Network of Enterprises) is a Flemish employer’s organisation that represents more than 16,000 companies in Flanders and Brussels, about 65% of private employment. VOKA was created in January 2004 when the Flemish Economic Alliance (VEV) and the eight regional Chambers of Commerce in Flanders decided to work together. VOKA debate when it came to Vivaldi II. Although they are more enthusiastic on the Walloon side, the interests of the Flemish are not those being served, of course. It is time for the Flemish voter to confront the French speakers and say: ‘The status quo is over’. We vote for parties that will bring the change we need and that will also not go backwards.”

Cooperation with Flemish centrist parties

“It is still my conviction that Flanders needs a kind of CSU (centre-right party in Bavaria, Germany). The centre-right party must unite to form a powerful bloc in the North that can govern, take responsibility and secure a deal with the South. A party that says: it must be done, we are moving towards 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 will conduct politics for working people, we will take a different approach in the area of energy and we will certainly implement a different migration policy. Those are the four big issues that the Flemish people are dissatisfied with.”

The Georges-Louis Bouchez offer

MR Chairman Bouchez would prefer to form a government based on the N-VA-MR axis after the elections, but De Wever’s reaction to the proposal is cool. “Bouchez is swimming in a red sea in Wallonia and trying to cling to the Flemish boat. That is understandable, but I have a different perspective. Looking at Wallonia, 70% to 80% of the people vote left-wing, even communist. So you have to make a deal with them not to work together. That is the only structural solution for both Flanders and Wallonia. The Walloons want to move to the left. They must be able to do so, but at their own expense. We will not continue to finance Wallonia’s bankruptcy.”

Negotiating with the PS party

“Of course, the left in Wallonia refuses any reform. As long as there is still a euro in a Flemish savings account that can be skimmed off through Inflation The increase in the general price level. The original meaning (literally “to blow up”) is monetary inflation, which means that the amount of money increases. Today, inflation primarily refers to price inflation. This means an implicit monetary depreciation. This causes the purchasing power to drop. inflation or taxes, they will say no and try to keep it that way for as long as possible. However, I am absolutely sure that Magnette is also working on another analysis and that the moment things fall apart is coming. But it is the Flemish voter who must confront them. If they have a slim chance of forming a Vivaldi II government and continuing the looting, they will undoubtedly do that. We must not allow them to do that.”

A small core government

“The De Croo government must step down immediately after the elections and be replaced by a small team, a serious cabinet supported by the majority parties in both parts of the country, with clear objectives concerning the budget, among other things, and with the incentive of finally bringing about a thorough reform. Anyone with common sense knows we have to go through that. It can absolutely be done with a small, limited government. The current monster of a government with 20 ministers cannot carry out any reform properly and was the reason the budget derailed.”

The formation of an “ordinary” government

“I have no desire to spend another few hundred days in a castle. I have already done that and learned that those who do not want to see anything change just watch the clock until they fall off their chairs from boredom and the financial markets force them to form a government. And then it is always the same: the small losing Flemish parties saying: ‘We must take on our responsibility’. The Wetstraat 16 crown is then placed on the table for the fool who wants to put it on his head, and we are off again for a Flemish minority. For most of this century, we have been governed without a Flemish majority. The part of the country that pays the bills is systematically sidelined. I’ve had enough of that. I’m not going to do that anymore.”

The Flemish childcare and De Lijn budgets

“The Flemish budget is healthy. So if you structurally ask for more expenditure – and I can understand that for childcare – then you also have to structurally spend less money elsewhere. The accounts must be kept in order. I am open to additional efforts for childcare. But EUR 115 million has already been added. However, we note that 2,000 places have been lost. So, is that money being spent well? Is subsidising group childcare eight times more than family childcare the right choice? We are driving the latter out of the market en masse, and we are losing places for childcare. Thus more money: okay, but there will have to be a serious discussion about how we spend it.”

According to De Wever, the same logic applies to the financial requirements for De Lijn. “If you want to spend more for something, there will be less for something else. You cannot keep the Flemish budget healthy by just piling up recurring expenses. You have to put a minus next to every plus. For the sake of clarity, we believe that this is possible. We think there is room to make savings so that additional expenses can be incurred. That’s called responsible governance.”