This week we head to Binche to meet Frédéric Maghe. A municipal councillor since 2012, he has tirelessly devoted himself in recent years to his local branch, but also to the MR at national level. Frédéric has in fact worked within the Mouvement Réformateur for many years and has just become Secretary General, a central role in our party's internal organisation.
Fred, being a liberal municipal councillor in a town with an absolute socialist majority like Binche, I imagine that's not easy every day…
No, it's not easy, especially since we were part of the majority without interruption from 2006 until the last elections. In 2006, we had 1 directly elected member out of 33. That rose to 3 in 2012, 5 in 2018, and since the 2024 elections we now have 8. So election after election, we manage to win more and more seats.
You've recently become Secretary General of the MR, how do you see this role?
I'm above all very happy that the President offered me this responsibility and that the MR Council approved it. I thank them for that. I have fairly long experience within our political movement, which I have served since 2008. I worked for Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Didier Reynders, Charles Michel, Olivier Chastel and, finally, for Georges-Louis, so I'm rather a profile who knows the liberal house well... The general secretariat is an important role, at the crossroads of the MR as a small enterprise (HR, resources, statutes, internal organisation, federations, branches, etc.) and the “political content” side, which of course must also continue to be followed. It's a great, exciting challenge that I intend to take on as best I can. I'm lucky to have had a foot in the house for a long time, so my adjustment should be quick. In any case, I want to thank and pay tribute to Valentine Delwart, who preceded me in this role, with all the qualities we know her for, for nearly 15 years. I'd also like to wish her every success in the Brussels negotiations that are currently keeping her busy, among other things.
Binche is known as a town of folklore, with its famous Gilles. And you take part in the carnival yourself…
Yes, absolutely, I count 29 years of taking part in the carnival and I'm a member of the committee of my Gilles society, the Jeunes Indépendants. The carnival is a kind of irrational interlude, a stolen moment in the year when you systematically find friends, acquaintances and family to celebrate, but also to keep alive a folklore we're deeply attached to. What I love most is the whole build-up announcing the carnival: society dinners in November, drum auditions and rehearsals in December, soumonces and carnival balls in January, before the three days of Mardi Gras crown it all. I hardly miss a bit of it. The next day your head sometimes hurts a little, but if you know how to enjoy yourself, you also know how to get up and go to work. I love my town beyond the carnival too. There's a certain human warmth there, a slightly rebellious spirit, a tendency towards gossip. Being from Binche is a state of mind.