Where’s Rudi? The N-VA’s scathing analysis of the policy in Brussels

Where’s Rudi? In a six-page document, the N-VA group in the Brussels Parliament sums up the sticking points of the Vervoort III Brussels government. It contains one constantly recurring theme: the absence of Minister-President Rudi Vervoort and of any form of effective policy. “It is still unclear what the Brussels government is going to do,” says group leader Cieltje Van Achter.

Disastrous dawdling with no budget to boot

The Brussels government was formed quickly last summer. The PS drew up a coalition agreement that ignored the Flemish vote for change. But today, the Brussels N-VA group wonders what is left of that coalition agreement. “In all his haste and rush, Minister-President Vervoort forgot to define the Brussels budget guidelines. Vervoort III wasn’t even able to make crucial decisions to find financing by the budget deadline of October 2019. But the very essence of governing is taking decisions, making choices and saving money where necessary. The challenges Brussels faces are huge, and the dawdling is disastrous.”

Corona: The Brussels government is nowhere to be seen

As if Brussels didn’t already have enough challenges on its plate, corona came along too at the start of this year. There too, Vervoort was absent. “The Brussels government was often nowhere to be seen in this regard: its health policy was insufficiently coordinated which led to a chaotic response from the municipalities. As a result, there were sometimes 19 different coronavirus ‘policies’ in Brussels.”

Brussels is not using its security competences

When it comes to security too, the lack of decisiveness government prevails, Cieltje Van Achter notes. “In recent months, Brussels has unfortunately made the international front pages several times for all the wrong reasons. Minister-President Rudi Vervoort must take action urgently. He got security competences under the sixth state reform which he is failing to use sufficiently. He must now formulate a unified approach for all problematic neighbourhoods in our city, among other things by harmonising police regulations.”

Fine promises but no progress

The conclusion is clear for the Brussels N-VA group. “It is patently clear that our Region must be simplified. The coalition agreement does not contain any specific commitments apart from the organisation of a ‘States-General’. However, the minister responsible has already stated that he has very little enthusiasm for this and for the moment no resources either. Our fear is that it will end up being no more than fine promises and that no real progress will be made towards a unified Brussels.”