Speech by Minister-President Adrien Dolimont at the Fêtes de Wallonie
Mr President, dear guests, in your respective titles and capacities.
Dear members of the press, pillar of our democracy.
Something is happening in our region. There is a feeling of change in Wallonia. We all feel it. I experience it every day. In Liège, Mons, Charleroi, Tournai, Arlon, Namur, Wavre, Verviers and just as much in the smaller towns and municipalities, the people of Wallonia are waiting for renewal. They confirmed this on 9 June. In Wallonia there is now a popular movement that speaks to everyone, made for everyone, and that brings a new wind. Some have used the word rupture. That is not what this is. What is emerging is a Wallonia, let us dare say it, in “Pokémon mode” // in other words in transformation, in adaptation, in modernisation. In evolution.
“Wallonia is like an old legend that tells itself endlessly. The valleys and rivers still whisper stories of past battles and forgotten passions.”
These words by Maurice Maeterlinck lead us to a deep reflection on how we see ourselves, and on how we accept the way others look at us.
For years, we, the people of Wallonia, had to listen to the same speeches. On one side of the language border, we were seen as system profiteers. On this side, some lamented an economic and social situation that was too complicated.
For years, we looked to a bygone era, mourning our past greatness: a land of industrial hubs, a land of innovation and excellence, a global benchmark.
For years, many of us fought against this double perception.
And for years, the defeatists, the “what's-the-point” crowd, kept telling us “the situation is what it is… you'll never change anything about it”.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is no fatality whatsoever. None. Never. This is a first, and wonderful, piece of news for all of us.
Today, the people of Wallonia are ordering us to put our energy at the service of a proud Wallonia that will no longer look back. A conquering Wallonia that wants, and will, move forward to become a region that Europe watches, first with astonishment, then with envy. That is our ambition.
I do not hide it, the challenge is immense and expectations are numerous, matching the disappointments and frustrations long felt by those who wanted, step by step, to build something different. I am, of course, one of them. I repeat: fatality is no longer the order of the day.
I have a second, astonishing piece of news: together, we will succeed in transforming Wallonia. Nothing less than that. All of it.
It will take some time, I know. But believe me, the hardest part is done. I am deeply convinced of it. The hardest part is the awareness, that famous “mindset” so dear to the Anglo-Saxons: to always believe in it, against all odds. Today, mindsets are changing, asserting themselves positively. With them, willpower and confidence have returned.
We have been at work since the formation of the government that I have the honour of leading.
We are explaining our project. We are consulting those who can help us implement it. We are negotiating its realisation. We are also taking the necessary time.
We will progress by systematically evaluating our decisions. This evaluation of our policies will be the rule, not the exception. We are moving forward with order and method.
For the first time in decades, the people of Wallonia are expressing a genuine desire to look ahead to the future with renewed confidence.
They want to fully reclaim that special something that has always defined them.
So I have a third, wonderful piece of news: our region is overflowing with talent.
In Biotech, Artificial Intelligence, Pharma, defence, energy, food… the science is there, the skills are there. I would add our expertise in education, health, wellbeing, but also sustainability and the environment. And I do not forget all those who make us dream through their art or their sporting achievements.
The only way to reveal these talents, but above all to support them and help them grow, is to listen to their demands and provide them with all the tools they need.
To that end, we are determined to shake up our institutions and the way we operate, without any taboo. We are going to change, truly change, everything necessary to make our region more efficient, more capable, more agile. The task is heavy, the obstacles numerous, but it would be illusory to bank on our discouragement. That word no longer belongs in the Walloon vocabulary!
Missing from this room today are all those for whom everything we are undertaking today makes sense. Those who give us the essential energy to succeed in our wager to rebuild Wallonia: generations Z and alpha. All the Walloons born since the late 90s, those who are under 30 today.
Young people, our children, my two sons, give me the desire to share this “good news”.
Our young people must be able to grow up with confidence and gentleness. Through our decisions, we have a duty to offer them a path where our steps, alongside theirs, will lead them towards a Wallonia where they will be happy to live.
To move forward towards this change, we must be attentive to all the realities experienced by the people of Wallonia.
To accomplish what is truly our mission, there are absolute and complementary priorities.
First, administrative simplification. Even today, the administrative burden weighing on users and institutions is too heavy. There are, of course, the energy, climate and digital transitions, which oblige us towards future generations. There is the unsustainable weight of public finances, a major concern of our legislature. There are the purchasing power difficulties that everyone faces. And finally, there is employment, which I deliberately mention last. Only the individual and collective effort of a great many people will make it possible to resolve all of the above.
Today, considered optimism is our best ally, and a sense of duty our responsibility.
Let us trust one another, for that is the cement of every society. Without it, there is neither cohesion, nor progress, nor freedom. Trust between us, citizens of this dazzling Region.
Trust in our institutions. Trust in our collective capacity to move mountains. Few summits are reached without effort, but together. There is nothing we cannot achieve.
Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, as the engineer that I am, to quote the poet René Char: “What comes into the world to disturb nothing deserves neither consideration nor patience.”
Today, the people of Wallonia have entrusted us with the “possible mission” of transformation, of boldness and ambition.
I am on a mission.
I want, every day for the rest of my public life, to move from words to action.
To conclude, let us recall the words of Simone Weil: “The future brings us nothing, gives us nothing; it is we who, in order to build it, must give it everything, must give it our very life.”
I wish you, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, a Fêtes de Wallonie filled with pure happiness, with our legendary joie de vivre and festive spirit, a Fêtes de Wallonie filled with hope, confidence and fortitude.
Thank you.