In Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, before a packed hall at the Brussels MR's 2026 New Year reception, Georges-Louis Bouchez praised the commitment of David Leisterh, the Brussels lead candidate, denouncing the "venomous little comments" that blame him for a political situation whose compromises he had, in fact, refused to endorse. For the President, true courage in politics is not accepting everything to secure a post, but standing by one's convictions, even if that means staying out of an executive.
He mocked the emerging "Guinness" coalition, which he described as a record for "indignity, irresponsibility and dishonesty", and denounced a plan for a more expensive, more closed and more punitive city: a two-speed LEZ extension (for citizens but not STIB buses), a strengthening of Good Move without review, and a new tax on entering Brussels.
In response, he announced a very offensive strategy in the Brussels Parliament: tabling bills to postpone the new LEZ phases until STIB buses themselves comply, reviewing Good Move, lowering registration fees and adapting jobseeker activation to the two-year unemployment cap. Every week, the 20 MR MPs will table proposals and force other parties to take a stand, "the masks will fall": no more saying one thing in the neighbourhoods and voting the opposite in Parliament.
On security, Georges-Louis Bouchez defended sending soldiers into the capital's streets to regain control of neighbourhoods most affected by crime, noting that it is above all working-class people and families from diverse backgrounds who suffer from insecurity. He called for firm application of the "vandal pays" principle after violence and damage in Brussels, and for a much more systematic deportation of illegal immigrants, while reaffirming that Belgium and Brussels must remain welcoming places for those who respect the rules, learn our languages, work and build alongside us. For him, being fair means both firmly punishing those who threaten security and fighting discrimination, better supporting people into employment, and better rewarding those who get up every morning to keep the country running.
He placed this line within a European framework: Brussels is the capital of the Union and directly benefits from hosting the institutions, but Europe will only be able to defend its values if it regains its military, energy, industrial and technological sovereignty. He criticised a Europe that spends its time lecturing Washington, Moscow, Beijing or Arab countries while remaining dependent on some for its security, others for its energy and yet others for its industry. Regaining this sovereignty means moving beyond comfortable posturing to invest in defence, energy (including nuclear) and industry, as liberals have already done on certain issues.
He also grounded his speech in current international events, paying tribute to the millions of Iranians who took to the streets to defy their regime, recalling that this struggle is "a purely liberal struggle" for rights we too often take for granted here: freedom, democracy, the right to choose one's own life. He invited activists to spread this cause on social media and support the diaspora, stressing that one cannot want freedom for oneself without also wanting it for others.
Finally, Georges-Louis Bouchez emphasised the distinctiveness and strength of the Brussels MR: a party of clarity, consistency and diversity, defending the same values in Brussels, Wallonia and elsewhere, without a double discourse "adapted" to the neighbourhood or the electorate. He claimed being sometimes politically isolated, recalling that the MR had already stood alone on nuclear power, capping unemployment benefits over time, merging police zones or on security, and that it eventually achieved progress thanks to public support. He asked activists to immediately campaign again: markets, businesses, associations, streets and squares, to explain the reforms, convince people on the ground and prepare the next step: going from 20 to 25 elected Brussels representatives.
In conclusion, the MR President expressed three wishes for 2026: courage, happiness and pride in being liberal. He called on everyone not to be discouraged by party games or media commentary, to keep the flame alive and to remember that "Brussels needs the MR" to break free from stagnation, defend freedom, work and responsibility, and offer a future to the capital of Belgium and Europe.
Find below the full speech by Georges-Louis Bouchez at the MR New Year's reception in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
Happy New Year!
When you read what's in the press, you might have thought this hall would be empty tonight… In fact, if I had to believe everything I read in the press, I wouldn't even vote for myself.
That proves you must never get discouraged, I'll come back to that later. But above all, you have to be in the fight, every day. Because what you did, you'll be able to do again. And you will do it again, I'm sure of it, even better!
Before I go further in this speech, I wanted us all to spare a thought for what is happening today in Iran. Today, in Iran, at this very moment as I speak to you, millions of people have taken to the streets against this regime.
Some in the media present this as a revolt against the cost of living. Don't be fooled. This is the continuation of the 2017 movement. This is the continuation of the 2022 movement. This is a purely liberal struggle. And what's shown on screen, that is true courage.
If at any point you feel a little weak, think of that man who stood up to the regime's motorcycle riders. True courage is being able to sacrifice one's life for one's ideal, for one's beliefs. And we liberals can only stand in solidarity with these people, these women and men who are ready to sacrifice their lives simply to attain what we experience every day.
What we consider completely ordinary, what we sometimes think we could lose without cost, that is freedom, that is democracy, those are liberal values.
So I have a request for you. Share their struggle. Share it on social media. Spread the word around you. Support them. Support the diaspora present in our country as well.
Every day, liberals must stand alongside the women and men fighting for freedom. Because you cannot want freedom for yourself without wanting it just as much for others. Our project is universal, our project is beautiful, our project must be supported everywhere in the world.
Earlier I spoke to you about your victory, about our victory. But I also want to say a word for our lead candidate, David Leisterh. Because David spared no effort. David spent every evening in the local branches, every day in the neighbourhoods. He walked the streets, handed out leaflets at metro exits, he went and mobilised each and every one of you.
And I won't hide from you that, beyond my personal bond with him, I cannot bear, as party president, reading these venomous little comments, these petty jabs, suggesting that he and I are ultimately responsible for the situation.
As for me, one could still think that. You know, with everything being said, it won't change my daily life. But him, do you really think that someone who has devoted more than 15 years of his life to this project, someone who sacrificed everything to be by your side every day, to mobilise, to go into neighbourhoods no one had visited for years…
Do you really think this person did not carry out this mission with the dedication we know him for?
Today I simply want to tell him, on behalf of us all, that he gave everything, that he did his utmost and above all, and I say this to our friends in the press, that he took the real act of courage.
Because courage in politics is not making every compromise to get a post. Courage in politics is understanding that you carry a project. And that if others, on the other side, lack the will, you must have the courage to sacrifice your personal interest for the collective interest.
I really ask for thunderous applause for David Leisterh!
I read here and there that this would be discouragement. That it would be discouragement because we are in opposition.
By the way, and I hold it a little against him for finding such a good line, I think Bernard Quintin summed things up well. Right now, the Guinness is the Loch Ness monster. Everyone talks about it, no one has seen it.
I don't know what will happen. The only thing I know is that today, the Guinness mainly holds the record for indignity, irresponsibility and dishonesty. We got here because some people believe this region belongs to them.
We got here because people who lost the elections, and clearly so, settled into their ministerial seats and figured that time passing would work in their favour. We got here because they still haven't understood the urgency for Brussels.
Yet our capital, which has every asset needed to thrive, loses 40,000 families every year who leave the capital for reasons of gridlock, uncleanliness, insecurity, and also socio-economic reasons.
Ladies and gentlemen, what I know about Guinness is that, at any rate, it's not a Belgian beer. They could at least have picked a gueuze. They've reminded me so often that I'm from Mons that I'd like to remind them that there are enough beers in Brussels without going to fetch an old Irish one.
But above all, Guinness has one particular feature: it's very dark, as dark as the colour of the plan taking shape. A plan where the LEZ will apply to every one of you, but not to STIB buses. Because that's what was being discussed around the table.
What we refused. What we refused was to say: if STIB buses don't need to be upgraded, then why demand it of our fellow citizens? I was told: "But the Region has no more money." How convenient, neither do people.
Today we have people, delivery workers, teachers, medical staff who need their car to come and work in Brussels. And they'll have to pay fines or change cars. But they'll be driving behind a bus that keeps polluting just as before.
Ask a cyclist whether it's better to follow a small car or a big bus for breathing. Beautiful hypocrisy.
This coalition will apparently strengthen Good Move. Didn't our fellow citizens vote to end gridlocked mobility?
And then, and this might be the best part, they now want a tax to enter Brussels. And even better, they tell us we had the same thing in our regional policy statement. I'm rather worried about reading comprehension, frankly.
Because what was actually planned in our regional policy statement? What is planned is that the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region will introduce a car toll sticker for people coming from abroad who use our motorway network.
And what we, the MR, have planned is to share part of that revenue with the Brussels Region. Because Brussels, not bordering any foreign country, would gain nothing from this vignette. Yet many of these people will come to Brussels because Brussels is our showcase, Brussels is our engine, Brussels really is the jewel of our country.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we have not planned to shut Brussels in, to make people pay to travel on increasingly difficult roads, to attack the purchasing power of our fellow citizens.
So yes, ladies and gentlemen, we will act. Because tonight it would be too easy to simply criticise. We will act through Parliament. Because as long as no government is in place, governance of this region can happen in Parliament. And the masks will fall.
We will table texts. We will table the text that postpones this measure. We will table the text that postpones this measure to at least the same date as the STIB buses. Because the first principle, if you want people to accept rules, is that those rules are fair.
And for a rule to be fair, it must be universal. We will also table a text to revise Good Move. We will also table a text to lower registration duties in Brussels.
In conclusion, every week our MPs, our 20 MPs, will take control. They will table texts, one after another. And I really invite you, on social media, I invite all press representatives to follow the work and the votes.
Because now it's over telling stories to people. Now they will have to take a position in Parliament. It's over, for some parties, going to say in the neighbourhoods that they're against Good Move, like in Anderlecht, and then going to vote for it in the Brussels Parliament.
It's over, for some, saying they defend the purchasing power of our fellow citizens and then voting new taxes. It's over, for others, saying they support the men and women who work and then forcing them to change cars in order to be able to do their job.
So really, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you that our MPs, our MPs who are much braver, much stronger than most others… Why? Because our MPs are the only ones who carry the alternative.
Because our MPs are vilified every day. But our MPs are women and men of conviction. So I really ask you to support them, starting by applauding each and every one of them, because it's been a year and a half that we've been here, in unjust conditions.
Well done to every one of them.
We will also act for Brussels from the other levels of power. And it is not by distraction that we brought our three ministers forward. Because the heart of the MR is in Brussels.
We appointed three ministers out of ten. And out of the 10, you'll agree with me, I still had to appoint Walloons to the Walloon government and a German-speaker to the German-speaking Community. I couldn't go much further.
Three ministers, three Brussels ministers, who act for all our fellow citizens, but who always keep our capital region in their heart and in their mind.
We will act by putting soldiers on the streets, because it is no longer possible to endure this insecurity. This insecurity particularly affects the working classes. Today, some try to make people believe that you'd be poorly received going to Clémenceau. Come with me. Come with me to Clémenceau and we'll do it, I'll come back to that.
You will see how much people are waiting for solutions. You will see how people from diverse backgrounds, like the working classes, the workers, come to us saying: “We can't take it anymore.”
We no longer dare let our children go out to the square because we fear a stray bullet. Because back when the residents of Clémenceau mobilised with that structure allowing vigilant citizens to alert the police, to be watchful, and they fought against those street vendors, the mayor at the time called them private militias.
Those people are not members of a private militia. They are just people who want their children to live safely. And as a young father, how can you blame them? How can you vilify these people?
So, soldiers on the streets, that's not a security fantasy, it's a necessity. Because we need to take Brussels back in hand. We will have to go further. We will have to work with the police forces, with the new King's Prosecutor, Julien Moinil.
But there is no more room for excuses. It's over saying that some destroy 15 buildings, all because they supposedly have no future. In Belgium, let's remember, not a single square centimetre of territory should escape the police.
And there is no single excuse that can justify attacking others.
We will also act by making the return of people in an illegal situation much more systematic. And I will be clear about that. Because we will stop with the caricatures.
Belgium is a welcoming land. Belgium, and Brussels in particular, is a land of diversity. And we must remain so. But Belgium is also a country that must be respected.
And so, yes, we must better support people arriving in our territory. We must strengthen language learning. We must strengthen support into employment. We must better structure our neighbourhoods to guarantee living together.
But we must no longer show the slightest leniency towards those who came to Belgium to commit crimes. 43% of prisoners today in our country are of foreign nationality. We must send them back. Why? Because today these people create a bad image, harming the thousands of women and men of different nationalities, different origins, who build Belgium every day.
So yes, being fair means being able to make tough calls, being able to make decisions, being able to sanction those who cause our country to malfunction.
At the same time, it means also being able to fight discrimination, to reach out and above all to much better reward the women and men who get up every morning to give our country a future!
What I'm telling you now is not for in a month or two, it's tomorrow morning at the government table.
We will also guarantee the principle that the vandal pays. It is no longer possible to see damage like in Mr Laaouej's municipality, as it happens, having to finance the destruction of bus shelters, of public property, and then it's your taxes that pay to repair all of that.
It must not be your taxes that pay to repair that. It must be those people who actually consider destruction to be free. It is those people we really need to sanction.
But today, ladies and gentlemen, trust me. The only real punishment is the one that hits the wallet. That one you don't forget.
When you have to get up every morning to work, to sweat, to give your money to the state and not be able to benefit from it… that you don't forget.
That is why, ladies and gentlemen, this principle that the vandal pays must become a concrete and immediate reality.
Because there's something I've never understood: they smashed things up even though their team had won the match.
But then I ask myself: when they lose, do they stay home? I don't think so. I think they smash things up too.
But then they smash something else. They still smash things up.
Either way, this is no longer acceptable, no longer tolerable.
Through these signals, and I spoke earlier about caricature, the MR is not positioning itself as a party outside the democratic field. On the contrary, by acting this way, the MR presents itself as the only bulwark against extremism, against the far right, but also against the far left.
We must fight against all forms of radicalisation. But if we want to make sure our fellow citizens don't get seduced, don't get deceived by these extremists, we must give clear, firm answers to the problems they face every day.
So, ladies and gentlemen, more than ever, be mobilised. Be mobilised to defend these actions.
Because whatever happens in this government formation, the Brussels MR has a bright future within it. Why? Because the Brussels MR has an asset: the clarity of its positions.
Our positions are clear on every subject. Above all, our positions are not opportunistic, because they are the same in Wallonia and in Brussels.
And I attach particular importance to this. Because the new fashion, imagine, both in the media world and in the political world, is to tell us that Brussels has such specificity that we should have different positions.
But if you come across a politician who has different positions depending on where they are, a small piece of advice: don't vote for them, they're an opportunist.
Because when a rule is good, it's good everywhere.
So, of course, the reality of Brussels is not the reality of Quévy, 8,000 inhabitants in the Mons region. That's just a bit of geography.
But overall, the reality of Brussels is the reality of all urban centres. You can have a technical specificity, but you can never have a specificity when it comes to values.
When we believe that Church and State must be separated, that is a value which does not adapt to electoral specificity. Because values are universal, they are unchangeable.
When the MR believes that work is the engine of society, that is a value. It is not an opportunistic choice.
When the MR believes that every citizen should be able to enjoy security, that is not applied differently in Brussels than in Wallonia, Flanders or anywhere else in the world.
The Brussels MR is also in the image of our capital. That is to say, it is diverse, full of diversity. And I tell you already, we will amplify the movement.
We will amplify it in two ways. By strengthening our elected representatives. Because yes, I can read here and there that some say: some elected representatives may have gotten more votes than others. That's not what matters.
What matters is that today we have people committed to the Mouvement Réformateur. And with whom we will build. We will build for the long term.
We have 20 elected representatives today. Next time we must aim for 25. That means we will keep the 20 elected representatives. But we must add 5 new ones.
Because the strength of a party is to rely on both experience and renewal.
So every activist will need to work with our elected representatives to increase our roots, to get back on the ground. Because yes, ladies and gentlemen, we're going straight back to the ground.
Why? We're going straight back to the ground to keep convincing. Because we're not on the ground to win elections. We're there to convince through values and ideas. And to convince, we don't need elections.
We must go and explain the measures. We must go and explain the measures we're taking at federal level. We must go and explain what we will defend in the parliaments. We must also go and explain what we're doing in the municipalities.
Because since the last elections, we have mayors, we have aldermen. In many more municipalities than before, that is also your victory. And that gives us an immediate lever.
And I make a big commitment, which is to fight this battle with you. Every week we will go with Brussels elected representatives into your municipalities. We will go to markets, we will visit businesses, we will visit associations.
We will be permanently on the ground. We will go and shake hands. Why? Because today the battle won't be won in the media. It's fought on social media, we've clearly seen that, but above all it will be fought through direct contact.
So I ask you to remobilise as if we were in a campaign. Because yes, we won. And you say: we had hoped to have a government the very next morning. Everyone would have hoped that.
But politics is tough. Winning the election is not enough. Sometimes you have to win several. You have to blaze the trail. You have to fight.
But are we sure of what we stand for? I am certain of it. Do you want a future for this region? I am convinced of it. And above all, do you love Brussels?
If you love Brussels, we go back into battle. We don't start reading the newspaper articles. We don't let ourselves be intimidated by corridor gossip and petty nonsense.
For 20, 21 years now they've been doing without us. Have you seen the result? Have you seen the result? So be convinced of one thing: Brussels needs the MR.
And we take on that commitment today. We won't ask ourselves questions. We're going to go and see everyone.
So, ladies and gentlemen, for this commitment we will get concrete results. Because wherever the MR is, things move.
Limiting unemployment benefits to two years, for example, sends a signal. It's more than just a budgetary measure. It sends a signal from which the region that will benefit most is Brussels.
You have certainly read the opposite. Because many people told you: there are lots of jobseekers in Brussels, so when you limit unemployment benefits to two years, Brussels will bear the consequences. It's exactly the opposite.
Brussels has many young unemployed people who, thanks to this signal, will understand that 15 kilometres away there are plenty of jobs, that at Zaventem airport there are hundreds of available positions, that in many roles people are being sought.
We're sending a signal that the State should in fact be there to help everyone through life's misfortunes. But that everyone must contribute to solidarity. Solidarity is not a cash machine. Solidarity is not one-sided.
Solidarity and the State are not someone else. They are each and every one of us.
So, ladies and gentlemen, you can tell yourselves one thing. What we need today is a different activation of the unemployed to cope with this reform. This activation of jobseekers was not planned by the Brussels government.
Here too, we will table a text in the Brussels Parliament starting next week to completely overhaul the activation of jobseekers.
And then we will see. We will see whether our partners from Les Engagés have enough consistency to vote for the same text in Brussels as the one they just passed in Wallonia. We will see whether the Parti Socialiste is sincere when it says it wants to help people.
Because helping people doesn't mean leaving them in a corner with a cheque. Helping people means taking them by the hand to lead them back to work, to allow them to take charge of their own lives again.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I told you: the masks will fall. Stand by our side for that.
It's hot. We're still waiting for a few glasses of bubbly though. Because I asked you to go back into battle. But before that, we need to gather strength.
I'd like to say two last things to you. The first concerns Europe. Because never forget that Brussels is the capital of our country, but above all the capital of the European Union.
The fact that we host the European institutions brings Belgium and the Brussels region 5 billion euros every year. So when you still hear some complaining about the Brussels and European institutions, especially about a possible departure… Europe is not other people, it is each and every one of us.
And today, international events force us to look a little further than our own doorstep, a little further than daily debates.
Today, the reforms we are carrying out for Belgium, and which we must also carry out in our regions, are not meant to solve a few budgetary exercises, nor to end up telling ourselves we have a few lines on the balance sheet.
The aim is to go much further. The aim is to guarantee a future for future generations in a State, Belgium, that is heavily in debt, with an extremely large deficit.
But it's above all about ensuring sovereignty, the sovereignty of the European Union and of Europe in general. To achieve this, defence investments are essential.
The industrial challenge is necessary. Being able to rely on our own energy is essential. Because today, and this is also a speciality of part of the Brussels political class, we spend our days telling the Americans we don't like their president. We're certainly right about that.
We spend our days telling the Arab countries and Russia that they don't respect our democratic standards. We spend our days telling China that they are potentially our enemies, at the very least spies, and in any case people who don't respect our environmental and social standards.
But at the same time, we are entirely dependent on the United States for our defence, entirely dependent on the Arab countries and Russia for our energy, and entirely dependent on China for our industry.
So when a few Brussels MPs from other political parties try once again to play UN Secretary-General in the Brussels Parliament, tabling yet another resolution on a conflict, there will need to be a response.
With actions. With concrete actions, not the comfort of posturing. It's not in the comfort of posturing that we will restore European sovereignty. It's in the harshness of reality.
But if we are all sincere in our desire for shared universal values, to ensure Europe shines throughout the world, then we will have to be courageous.
We will need the courage to pursue policies that allow us to regain that sovereignty. We will sometimes have to go against conventional wisdom on industry, on energy, as we indeed did on nuclear power.
So we will have to, and this is my second point, dare to stick our necks out from the herd. You know that this is generally the least forgivable thing to do. To bring something different.
Yet that is the very essence of politics. That is the very essence of politics. And I know it. I know it. They tell us: you're isolated. So what? So what?
Do you think that over the last 50 years the Mouvement Réformateur was ever brought into a government because we were liked? We are the only political party that upholds liberalism.
When I became MR President, I was even told: “You need to stop using the word liberal, because it scares people, it's not popular.”
Today, what do I see? I see that everyone is trying to pass themselves off as liberal. Loads of liberals are popping up.
People who discovered liberalism a few weeks ago. And they explain to you that “we, we are liberals.” But they govern from the left. That's odd. That's original.
The only true liberals are here. But yes, it takes courage not to think like everyone else. But that's the only way to do politics.
Because what matters in politics is not accumulating mandates. It's not about having positions.
What matters in politics is asking yourself: what mark will we leave for future generations?
We stood alone on nuclear power. We got it. We stood alone on time-limited unemployment benefits and the labour reform driven by David Clarinval. We got it.
We stood alone on security. We're achieving it. We stood alone on the merger of police zones. We got it.
We were always alone, but we managed it. Why did we manage it? We managed it because we succeeded in gaining popular support.
So, ladies and gentlemen, in the coming days, weeks and months, I ask you to keep this flame alive. Because yes, it's hard, but we're getting there.
And what do we owe it to? Courage. Because courage is the only quality that allows things to change.
So for 2026, I wish you three things. Courage, you've understood that. To be happy, because that's the purpose of life. Never forget that.
Don't read the press, it makes you unhappy. But be happy. Think every day of every opportunity to be happy.
And you're happy when you're in tune with your ideas. And above all, more than ever, more than ever, in Brussels. Because here we are the first.
Be proud to be liberals!