For the newspaper De Standaard, MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez is, alongside Prime Minister Bart De Wever, the Man of the Year 2025. Reason enough, they felt, for an end-of-year profile. The result was an extensive weekend interview about his beloved Mouvement Réformateur, which he has turned into a genuine liberal people's party. “The MR defends people who work.”
In the first four questions, Bouchez immediately laid the groundwork for a passionate discussion.
This is the year in which you aligned the MR even further with “droite camping-car”. Suddenly the MR is against an index jump and against a VAT increase. Do liberals no longer defend businesses and the wealthy?
“Our fight for the shopping basket is essential. The MR wants to defend people who work, to defend the middle class. It's true: an index jump or a general VAT increase are measures the MR would once have easily accepted. But the MR has changed. I have steered the MR towards being a more popular party.”
What exactly should we understand by that?
“I am convinced that three right-wing currents must be united, as Nicolas Sarkozy did in France in 2007. First, the line I just mentioned: a party that values work, la ligne bonapartiste. But we also remain an economically liberal, right-wing party, opposed to taxes and excessive public spending. Third, right-wing liberals must defend our cultural traditions, our identity. My ambition is to bring these three currents together in a single party.”
This last point is nevertheless new for the MR. You're more conservative than truly liberal, aren't you?
(waving off the remark) “With us, you're already labelled conservative as soon as you don't follow the whole 'woke' discourse of the left. Look where that led Open VLD. The party wanted to be economically right-wing and socio-culturally left-wing. That doesn't work in Belgium. Here, you have to be right-wing across the board. Otherwise, you're a 'bobo' who only speaks to three percent of the population.”
Yet a liberal president defending the Nativity scene seems contradictory.
“Not at all. I believe one hundred percent that religion belongs in the private sphere, which is why I am, for example, against religious symbols in public administration. But a Nativity scene can no longer be called a religious object. It is simply part of our tradition. If you celebrate Easter Monday and have the day off, does that make you a conservative Christian? Will you thank God for that day off? Or do you simply see it as part of our heritage?”
On Friday evening, Mr Bouchez also took the time to appear on De Afspraak op Vrijdag (VRT CANVAS). With Ivan De Vadder, he discussed the week's news.
“Europe is increasingly being marginalised on the world stage,” warned the MR leader. “For its defence it depends on the United States; for its energy on Arab countries and Russia; and for its industry on China. If we want to regain international influence, we must regain our autonomy in these three areas.”