In Liège, MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez closed the New Year's reception by fully standing behind his decision to keep the events at the Palais des Congrès despite threats and attempts at intimidation. He denounced the attitude of far-left splinter groups who call themselves "anti-fascist" while burning his effigy, where those who claim to be on the "side of good" in fact resort to the very methods used by the regimes they claim to fight. The MR does not have to hide or change venue under pressure: giving in would already mean surrendering fundamental freedoms that liberals helped enshrine in one of the most progressive constitutions in the world.
The MR President also pointed to the lack of solidarity from part of the political and media class in the face of these attacks on democracy, recalling that what targets the MR today could target other parties or simply free thinkers tomorrow. He strongly defended the idea that, in a liberal democracy, everyone must be able to gather, debate and express their ideas safely, without ever paying for their political commitment through violence or damage. He also rejected the argument that the MR should bear the cost of security arrangements, believing that bill should fall on those who refuse peaceful debate and choose violent confrontation instead.
Time-limiting unemployment benefits, reforming health insurance funds, streamlining public structures, returning to nuclear power, controlling debt, defending European sovereignty and a firm but fair migration policy. According to him, the opposition is so fierce precisely because these reforms touch on taboos and vested interests, but they are essential to guarantee a sustainable social system, a competitive economy and a Europe capable of defending its values without depending on the United States for its security, on Russia or the Arab world for its energy, and on China for its industry.
The MR President also stressed the "cultural revolution" represented by the end of unlimited unemployment benefits, not to "cause harm", but to move away from mass inactivity that has destroyed entire neighbourhoods and trapped families across several generations in a form of social fatalism. He repeated that these reforms are fair, necessary and unavoidable, and that none of their opponents will take responsibility for reversing them. He also denounced the hypocrisy of a system in which certain structures, such as the large health insurance funds, accumulate considerable assets while benefiting from tax exemptions, and called for restoring a simple principle: equality before taxation.
Finally, Georges-Louis Bouchez recalled that Belgium must remain a country of welcome and integration, but that it must also be respected, which requires firmly combating illegal immigration, sending foreign offenders back to their home countries and tightening the conditions for obtaining Belgian nationality, which he describes as an honour rather than a mere right. To activists, he issued a threefold call for 2026: be happy, be courageous and remain proud to be liberal, by continuing to work on the ground, explain the reforms and defend, through debate and ideas, a societal project built on freedom, responsibility and sovereignty.
Read the full speech by Georges-Louis Bouchez in Liège
Happy New Year to everyone,
It's always hot in Liège. We're luckier that the atmosphere is hot in Liège than we would be having Standard in the top six positions. And I won't remind you either that Royal Francs Borains beat RFC Liège a month ago…
In the videos shown, there was a little game: 3 MPs were missing, one per constituency. Did you spot them? Were you paying proper attention during the videos? And the three concerned obviously can't speak for themselves. So I really ask you to applaud Christine Mauel, Caroline Cassart and Valérie Bluge.
As I said, every time we come to Liège, we now get a welcoming committee. I've just told the press, in fact, that they apparently wrote "Bouchez to the stake". Not bad. I don't know, Charles Gardier will have to explain to me how that scores in terms of rhyme. But besides that, they also set fire to an effigy meant to represent me. And would you believe it, these people are anti-fascists.
So these people say: "We represent democracy. We represent the side of good." Yet they allow themselves to burn the effigy of a political opponent. I don't know if it strikes you the way it strikes me, but I think there's a bit of a reversal of roles here. It's rather odd when anti-fascists adopt the methods of fascists, when those who claim to defend democracy prevent public debate.
What troubles me far more is that we are systematically asked to change venue. Now you'll say: but the MR didn't change venue because Bouchez has quite a temper. That's true. If you want to get something out of me, whatever you do, don't ask me for it. A tip for the next ministerial castings…
But more seriously, why do we refuse to go along with this? Why do we refuse to change location? For a very simple reason: if we go along with that logic, we, the liberals, would be giving up fundamental freedoms.
And the lack of solidarity from other democratic political parties, the lack of outrage from part (and I do mean only part, but part nonetheless) of the press, is unacceptable. Because today they think it only concerns the Mouvement Réformateur. But tomorrow it will be Les Engagés. And then later, perhaps moderates within the PS. And after that, simply free thinkers.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we will never move. Because in Belgium, in this progressive state built by liberals, in this liberal democracy where we have one of the most progressive constitutions on the planet, in this country, everyone can go everywhere.
In this country, everyone has the right to security. In this country, everyone has the right to defend their opinions. That is the fight of liberals. By being here tonight, you are matching your words with actions.
So for that, a big thank you. But above all, for the future: stay vigilant. Because we tend to think these fundamental freedoms are secured forever, and nothing is more fragile. International events prove that every day.
I'll tell you: there are politicians who love striking poses. They love sending condemnatory tweets. They love harsh words. I prefer actions.
And the act of not backing down in the face of violent militants, the act of being able to hold ideas even if they are unpopular, that is the act we are taking, and through us, thousands of citizens who have placed their trust in us are taking it too.
So for that, ladies and gentlemen, thank you, and above all: never give up!
On the reason for this violence, I hear two other arguments being made. The first is that it would be our fault. Our fault, imagine that… We don't have the good taste to be left-wing. Worse, we dare to tackle taboos: the role of trade unions, not trade union freedom, but the role they have been given within state structures without any election.
We dare, and I will come back to this, to tackle the war chests of the health insurance funds. We dare to ask ourselves whether all the money sent to the non-profit sector is being well spent. Not that we dislike the non-profit sector, quite the opposite, but we dislike its partisan instrumentalisation.
And because we dare to tackle these taboos, apparently we would deserve this fate. You know, it's a bit like saying you shouldn't drive too nice a car in certain neighbourhoods, or that certain women shouldn't dress a certain way in certain places. It's exactly the same shameful kind of argument.
All our proposals are democratic. All our proposals fall within the framework of the law. All our proposals aim at the general interest. And so, no, we will not stay silent. And no, no one deserves this treatment.
In this regard, an elected representative from Liège was herself attacked. The Mouvement Réformateur immediately expressed its solidarity and support. Because the words I speak today are not limited to our political party: all democrats, and I will go even further, even those who are not, have a right to security.
No one should pay, through physical or material harm, for taking a political stance.
The second argument is that we should pay for the police deployment present here tonight. It's exactly the same logic: the reversal of responsibility. We are the ones being threatened, the municipal authorities decide on a police deployment, and yet we would be held responsible for that very deployment.
Ladies and gentlemen, never fall into that logic. Who should pay this bill? This bill should be paid by the 400 antifa. They are the ones incapable of coming to our meetings to debate calmly. They are the ones incapable of peacefully confronting us at the entrance.
And it's clear that if these people asked to meet me, I would do so. I would defend our proposals. I would defend our reforms. We have no use for, no need for, and no legitimacy to employ violence.
Violence may be necessary for freedom fighters under dictatorial regimes, under totalitarian regimes. That is the exact opposite of what Belgium is. The exact opposite.
Really, keep up the activism. Be proud of this commitment. And above all, stay standing. Because as soon as you put a knee to the ground, it's democracy that loses.
We, the liberals, are the defenders against the far left and against the far right. Because true democrats are not afraid of debate. True democrats are not afraid of change. And above all, true democrats accept other people's ideas, even if they oppose them.
But if we fight them, we fight them with the strength of argument. We fight them with the strength of debate. We fight them with intelligence and with words, and not with violence!
So yes, we are carrying out an enormous number of reforms. But these reforms are essential. I could mention the budget issue, because today we are not distributing wealth, we are distributing debt.
Imagine that: a large part of our well-being is paid for entirely with debt. It's as if you went out to eat at a restaurant and, after enjoying a good plate of mussels and fries from Liège, at the end of the meal you called your son or daughter to tell them they need to come to the restaurant to pay the bill.
That is exactly how we are living. Every child born in Belgium today comes into the world with a debt of €50,000 to €60,000. €50,000 to €60,000 that our children will have to earn, on top of having to secure their own livelihood and their generation's solidarity.
As parents, as grandparents, or even, and I wish this for you, as great-grandparents, would you agree to go to your children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren to explain to them that they will actually have to pay the bill we are going to leave them with?
That is irresponsible. That is why the Mouvement Réformateur is not committing itself for the next election, there will be time for the campaign, but for the next generations.
We are committing ourselves to guaranteeing that our children can still have a social system. And I claim this: the most social party is not the one that empties the coffers down to the last cent. The most social party is the one that guarantees the coffers will still be full for decades to come.
The true social party is not the one that tells people they must stay in their chair and wait for magic money. The true social party is the one that explains to people that the State is each and every one of us; that we must all contribute according to our means; that we should all be able to receive support when we suffer an accident, but that no one can accept that their neighbour contributes in their place if they are able to contribute themselves.
The true social party, ladies and gentlemen, the true party of working men and women, is the Mouvement Réformateur!
There is of course the budgetary challenge, but it goes much further: there is the challenge of sovereignty. The sovereignty of our country, but above all European sovereignty.
What is sovereignty? It is the capacity to defend one's values in any circumstance. Yet today, what is Europe's position?
Europe, that's not complicated: Europe thinks the United States chose a bad president. Europe thinks the Arab countries do not respect fundamental freedoms. Europe thinks Russia is a danger. And Europe considers China a potential enigma and threat.
Europe is right. The problem is that Europe depends on the United States for its security. Europe depends on the Arab countries and Russia for its energy. And Europe depends on China for its industry.
That is sincerity: instead of sending tweets, we need to have the levers of action so that our liberal project, so that our democratic values, can shine across the whole planet.
But it is clear that you are far less credible, far less serious, if you hope to lecture the President of the United States while your greatest fear is that he decides, overnight, to withdraw from Ukraine.
It is much harder to explain to Arab countries that equality between men and women is an essential value for us, if in response they can cut off the supply of oil or gas. You should know that, despite everything you've been told, even today 40% of the liquefied gas arriving in Europe through the port of Zeebrugge is Russian gas.
It is much harder to explain to the Chinese that they should respect social rights, that they should stop spying on us, siphoning off our patents, and posing a potential threat to our security, when every product you use daily is made in China.
That all the electronic products found everywhere in the world, in your cars, your phones, your microphones, your washing machines, your televisions, are built using rare earth materials that today are almost exclusively mined by China.
So yes, ladies and gentlemen, we need courage, because what brought us into this situation is cowardice. We wanted to save the planet, that is of course an essential challenge.
But if, in order to save the planet, we no longer have any industry, no capacity to exploit raw materials, what is the point?
We wanted to show ourselves far more virtuous than others on energy matters. The Greens made us believe, incidentally, they're friends of those outside, that with a bit of wind and sun we would cover all our energy needs. That was a fairy tale.
We proved it. We fought together with all the colleagues of the Mouvement Réformateur. And it was Mathieu Bihet who managed to get this text passed, and the word is well chosen: a historic text for Belgium.
Because this is a text that guarantees a secure energy future. It was Mathieu Bihet who put an end to that heresy of nuclear phase-out. Because nuclear power gives us the energy autonomy we need.
So, Mathieu, thank you. You can be proud, people of Liège, to have a minister who got a text passed that people will talk about for many years to come. Well done, Mathieu!
This sovereignty will require abandoning the comfort of posturing and confronting the harshness of reality. It will require realism, courage, political will. But if we want Europe to remain a land of knowledge, of well-being, of solidarity and of freedom, we only have a few years left.
And yes, Europe is not the others. Europe is us.
The first reforms start from Belgium. Reforms, of course, to ensure that unemployment benefits are time-limited. Why? Not to hurt people.
I would like to address a few members of the press in the room. I am rather struck to see articles that, every day, seemed almost impatiently to wait, fuelled by an opposition eager for drama, eager for potentially explosive situations, to show that we would be inhumane people.
We expected queues at the CPAS offices. We expected hours and hours of waiting. In the end, today things are being handled, and it's going smoothly. And I repeat: this measure was not taken to hurt people.
Because we must not be mistaken: what hurts is inactivity.
In the province of Liège, one could name many municipalities where the employment rate for people of working age is below 50%. Go and see those neighbourhoods. Go and see the distress and social hardship that unemployment has created.
Because prolonged inactivity has meant that, sometimes across two or three generations, people no longer even think about working, no longer even think about taking charge of their own lives.
So I say to you, ladies and gentlemen: the reform limiting unemployment benefits to two years is not a budgetary reform. It is a reform that amounts to a true cultural revolution. It is a reform that conveys a major message, one that was at the heart of our election campaign: with the MR, work is at the heart of society!
I would also like to pass on another message to the people outside who are demonstrating. I would like to let them know, because they may not have informed themselves, or only through PTB leaflets, and that's not exactly the most objective information, that their best ally, the baker from Charleroi, actually said that time-limited unemployment benefits will not be reversed.
And that interview struck me a great deal. Because when the baker from Charleroi faced the butcher from Mons, he kept saying that unlimited unemployment didn't exist, that in Charleroi he only saw people who worked.
I told him: but that's not true. Because I, in Mons, see people who want to work, who have suffered a life setback and need better support. But I also see others who are not particularly unhappy with their situation, who sometimes work under the table and forget to tell the State about it. But that, apparently, didn't exist…
And yet, I open the newspaper during the Christmas holidays, perhaps they were thinking of me, they think of me every day, and I read: “Unlimited unemployment benefits will never return.”
That is the essential message to remember.
If you doubt our reforms, if you are afraid, and that is legitimate, there is no shame in doubting, no shame in being afraid, every day I ask myself the question, every day I wonder whether what we are doing is right, tell yourself one thing: they will never roll back a single one of our reforms.
Because these reforms are just. These reforms are necessary. These reforms are inevitable.
So I have a message for Paul and Raoul: it's cold. There's no point staying outside. Let them stop blocking the country. Let them finally get moving, defend their own plans, wait for the next elections.
And until then, let them reflect on the social hardship the left has created in Wallonia. Let them reflect on their record in the old working-class municipalities. Let them reflect on the state of Liège, Charleroi, La Louvière, Mons. And maybe then they'll come back to us with a vision for society.
Because playing anti-Bouchez may generate clicks on Facebook, it certainly fills newspaper pages, but it's not a vision for society.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we must never lower our heads. We must never lower our heads, because we have a vision for society. We work for the common good.
To explain their aggression, I asked myself many questions. Because I thought: after all, losing an election isn't a big deal, that's democratic politics. It happens.
And then I looked a bit more deeply into our state. And I saw certain privileged positions. One example: the health insurance funds.
Did you know that today, a non-profit such as “Petites Sœurs des Pauvres”, which helps homeless people and the elderly, pays a tax on its assets every year?
I thought: the health insurance funds, actors of solidarity, people of the left, so good people, virtuous people, people of great generosity, surely must pay that tax.
But I discovered that in fact they didn't pay it. How so? Had it been forgotten? Ah, no, it hadn't been forgotten. The Parti socialiste had arranged for the health insurance funds to be exempted in the law.
Then I got the explanation in the newspaper: apparently the health insurance funds need a reserve fund, because this reserve fund allows them to cover any potential gaps in the health insurance treasury.
OK. But you know there are also laws requiring banks to hold reserve funds. That doesn't stop them from being taxed.
And above all: 6.4 billion euros in reserve. 6.4 billion!
I thought: maybe that's cash, savings. But no. In fact, what are these 6.4 billion? They are stock shares, bonds, luxury hotels, ski resorts. You may have gone skiing at Solidaris one day…
So let me tell you something: I understand why they talk about big capital every day. Because the biggest capitalists are them, managing to amass 6.4 billion in assets.
Even better: they managed to make some people believe that taxing that wealth would increase our fellow citizens' contributions.
That stems from two major misunderstandings. The first is that it doesn't bother the Parti socialiste and their left-wing friends to tax companies and banks without ever wondering whether your bank fees will go up.
Because when they say “we're going to tax the banks, we're going to tax the airlines”, aren't you customers of banks? Aren't you customers of airlines?
The second is that the MR never said the compulsory insurance should be taxed. We are talking about supplementary insurance products, that is, products for which the health insurance funds compete with private insurers, such as DKV.
They sell exactly the same products. And while DKV pays over 100 million euros in taxes, the health insurance funds pay zero.
Is that normal?
Before wanting to raise taxes on working men and women, on those who invest, and I dare say, on those who save, because what we've managed to save, we earned by working, shouldn't we first guarantee a fundamental principle: equality before taxation?
I say that everyone must pay the same tax. It's simple. It's fair.
But it is even more legitimate when Jean-Pascal Labille tours the media explaining that companies should pay more, while he heads a structure that doesn't pay its fair share.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we must put an end to this hypocrisy. And yes, I tell you, if there is so much anger against the reforms, it's because we are touching taboos.
We are touching that whole conservatism which has given Belgium one of the worst debt levels in the European Union and the largest deficit in the European Union.
But bear this in mind: today's deficits are tomorrow's taxes. The State's deficit is your deficit, it's our deficit.
So yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to carry on. We are going to continue these reforms. We are going to make sure we give the money back to the citizens. And for that, we need to work on two things: increase growth, I stand by that, but also reduce public spending.
We spend too much public money in Belgium. We spend more than 330 billion euros every year. Yet we don't have an education system that shows very good results; the state of the roads is not good, and it will certainly be even worse after the wave of snow; our justice system is not the fastest; we suffer from insecurity in a whole series of neighbourhoods; the administration sometimes takes many months before responding to even the smallest permit request.
One might ask the question: where does the money go?
The money goes into something very simple: the State spends too much on its own functioning. We have too many structures.
That is why Adrien Dolimont and the whole Walloon Government are working to abolish the political level of the provinces. Not the provincial staff, I want to reassure them. The teacher who teaches in provincial education will still remain a teacher, we need him.
But in a state with seven governments, in addition to all the municipalities, do we need governments at the provincial level too?
That is why we will also abolish the Senate. That is why we need to move forward on merging municipalities and CPAS. That is why we must put the issue of municipal mergers back on the table.
And since there are elected representatives in the room, I'm announcing it: we are going to launch an initiative at the level of the Mouvement Réformateur, together with all our municipal elected representatives, to move forward on the merger of municipalities.
Because we must lead by example. Because we were not elected to collect mandates, but to serve the general interest.
Today we cannot tell people that we're going to lower taxes if we don't reduce public spending.
So yes, it's a strong commitment. Reducing this public spending will not lower the level of wellbeing of our fellow citizens. There is an enormous amount of duplication in our country. There are enormous numbers of things that technology could help us do.
I'll just give you one figure to convince you: today Belgium spends 55% of its GDP on public spending. 55%. The Netherlands spends 45%.
Do you feel that the roads are in bad condition in the Netherlands? That the schools there are of poor quality? That justice there is too slow?
Their employment rate is higher, their pensions are higher. How do they do it? They have fewer levels of power, fewer municipalities, and a very reduced provincial level.
There's no secret: these structures come at a cost. We need to be more efficient. Efficiency is in the DNA of reformers.
So I invite you all, elected representatives of the Mouvement Réformateur, to lead by example. Because what matters in politics is not having mandates, it's leaving a mark.
It's about allowing our children to be proud of what we have done. And today, one of the ways to achieve that is to give money back to those who work, and to spend much less in order to do so.
It's a commitment, it's a task we will carry out all together.
One last word on democracy, to return to the starting point. Democracy is a great many things. First of all, as I said, it's the right to express oneself, but also to move about safely. It's respect for public money and the State.
That is why we will make sure that the troublemakers become the payers. Because it is not normal to see images, as in Brussels, of people who, after a football match, destroy brand-new bus shelters, destroy public property.
Just as it is unacceptable that 43% of inmates in our prisons are not of Belgian nationality. That's double the European average.
Then some will shout about fascism and the far right. Is it far right to give an official figure and say that it should make us reflect?
It should make us reflect on our migration policy, on our relationship with immigration.
Belgium is, and must remain, a land of welcome. We must be a territory that enables the integration of the women and men who come to our country, either because they are fleeing conflict, or because they are seeking a better future and want to work.
We must help those who want to come to Belgium to build our country with us, much better.
But we must be firm, without delay, towards those who came to abuse the system, to commit abuses, to enter our territory illegally.
It is a community of rights, of course, but also of duties.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I've said it and I'm not afraid to say it, even though in this country it's a suspect word: our country must once again be respected.
That is why we will need to tighten the conditions for access to Belgian nationality. Today, one can fail an integration process, speak none of the national languages, and still be naturalised.
I say to you: being Belgian is not a right, it is an honour, it is a privilege.
And that privilege must be reserved for the women and men who love our country, whatever their religion, their skin colour, their origin.
Because what matters is not where you come from, not the religion you believe in, not your skin colour. What matters is the sharing of values.
What matters is the will to move the country forward. What matters is the pride of being Belgian. What matters is the will to contribute to the collective effort.
And since I was talking about democracy, one last word about our party.
A great party is not built in the comfort of victorious election nights. A great party is built in the hardship of everyday life.
It is built when we carry out reforms. It is built when we have to go and explain things to people.
A great party is not just smiles at swearing-in ceremonies. It is daily fellowship. It is solidarity. It is work.
Yes, of course it's not easy every day. But you should be proud of what we are achieving.
You must tell yourselves that what matters is that in 2029, we all look at ourselves in the mirror and tell ourselves that we kept our promises, that we gave our country a future back, that we implemented a liberal project.
So, in the coming days, in the coming weeks, snow or no snow, we must get back on the campaign trail. We must get back out into the field.
Because campaigning isn't just during the election period. Campaigning happens every day.
Conviction happens every day. We must explain our reforms one by one. We must shake every hand. We must leave no one behind.
There are no impossible cases. There are no people who are impossible to convince. There is only willpower. So we must have that willpower.
For 2026, I wish you three things.
The first is to be happy. Never forget that this is why we get up in the morning. I hope, by the way, that you are happier tonight than when you got up. That's how you know your day has already been a success.
The second is to be courageous. Because courage is the only thing that allows you to achieve, the only thing that makes a difference. Then of course there's the comfort of empty words: the kidibul liberals. They call themselves liberal but talk like the left. Very odd. I see them, those people. I see them, those people, with the ease of doing politics with empty words. You know, when I became MR President, the word liberal was almost forbidden. And today they all claim to be liberal. But the real liberals, they are here. They are the ones who have the courage to carry what we have always stood for and who, today, are putting it into practice.
And finally, the third thing is, more than ever, to be proud to be liberals!