Speech by MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez
Congress “2024 s’éclaire” - MR New Year wishes in Louvain-La-Neuve
7 January 2024
Hello everyone,
I will start by thanking our activists. We will reward and honour loyal activists at each stop of this New Year tour. People who work in the shadows, who help us without expecting anything in return, and who are the heart of our political movement.
Between 4,000 and 5,000 people will take part in our New Year tour. The MR teams are doing extraordinary work and will be put to a tough test this week and in the coming months. Thanks to all our staff in the cabinets, the parliamentary groups and the party presidency.
2024 requires us to announce major candidates now for next June's elections. I sense a certain impatience in the press about this. Others have made their announcements before us. But at the MR, we are not engaged in class warfare or a scramble for positions. We want to devote our energy to our project and our proposals. We want to show that we are the only alternative for Wallonia and Brussels. Of course, this project will be embodied by figures from civil society, with either a political or activist background. Our lists will be diverse, gender-balanced, reflecting society. They will embody concrete and precise answers. They will show how necessary the liberal project is to put our Regions back on track and reform them.
In Walloon Brabant, we have many elected representatives. If the proportion of MR MPs were similar in Hainaut, we would need to triple our number of MPs there. I hand over to Jean-Paul Wahl to introduce our candidates.
Jean-Paul Wahl introduces the woman who embodied governance reform during the previous term and who works effectively with her current colleagues Willy Borsus and Adrien Dolimont. Valérie De Bue will be the MR's lead candidate on the regional list in Walloon Brabant. She states: “It is a great honour and a great responsibility. We will build a strong list to lead us to victory. We want to defend a record I am proud of, and above all defend strong proposals for Wallonia. Walloon Brabant is the cradle of liberalism and is known for its prosperity. Our momentum must inspire the whole of Wallonia. Politics is commitment, passion, availability, listening. Doing politics is a marathon, but the campaign is a sprint. We will rise to the challenge together. Thank you for your trust.”
For the federal list, we will present two candidates. Mathieu Michel is part of this party's DNA. He wanted to ensure that the MR could count on a female duo in Walloon Brabant, to showcase this diversity of faces. He carried out tremendous work as Secretary of State, notably in the renovation of buildings such as the royal palace and the courthouse. It is also thanks to him that your data is better protected. He will take 2nd place on the federal list.
This list will be led by a duo. Its lead candidate has always been available for our political movement and is recognised for her skills as mayor. She is an MP who works tirelessly and comes from civil society. Florence Reuter will lead our list in Walloon Brabant.
Florence Reuter states: “I have been committed to defending liberal values for 17 years now. We must constantly remind people why it is important to be liberal, because extremism on both the left and the right is dangerous and threatens our fundamental values. I thank my teams, at Waterloo municipality and in Parliament. I am aware of the scale of the challenge, as I succeed Charles Michel, who was lead candidate in 2019. But this will be teamwork. I can count on Charles's experience and also on Mathieu's, who supported me greatly both when I started at the municipality and in my parliamentary work.”
Mathieu Michel states: “History has shown us that, starting from a situation quite similar to Hainaut's, you can triple your result and make liberal values triumph. Walloon Brabant proves that liberal solutions work. We grew up on companionship. We are all different and each have our own reasons for being liberal, but it is by acting together that we are strong, and that is why Walloon Brabant is so blue today. That is how we will win.”
How should we structure our list for the European elections? What well-organised party with the President of the European Council in its ranks would not entrust him with the lead position for the European elections? Who is better placed to speak about Europe? Who better than Charles Michel to lead the MR into this election?
Charles Michel states: “I am deeply moved to be here with you this morning. Freedom and democracy: that is the promise of a better life, that is the European promise. That is the beating heart of liberal and reformist commitment. Europe is democracy that guarantees human rights. It is prosperity through cooperation and economic integration. It is security and peace through mutual respect. It is unity in diversity. For five years I served our country as Prime Minister. For five years after that, I chaired the European Council. This year is a turning point. It is an extremely electoral year: USA, Russia, India, Belgium, Europe. Nearly half the world's population will vote in 2024. I have decided to run as a candidate to meet citizens, listen, debate, defend, protect. I want to thank here all those fighting alongside us for this European project: Olivier Chastel, Frédérique Ries, Didier Reynders, Sophie Wilmès and Hadja Lahbib. We want a Europe that respects and commands respect, that develops its sovereignty and power. There are four requirements: succeeding in the climate and digital transition, not through coercion, but through freedom. Achieving energy sovereignty and independence. That is why we must support innovation and renewable energy, as well as nuclear power, essential in the European energy mix. Europe is also the freedom to do business, it means trusting human and collective intelligence. Finally, it is security and peace. I think of my grandfather, who died when my father was 17. He lived through the horrors of war. I think of Ukraine, where I met a 10-year-old boy who told me about the occupation, just a few flight hours from here. I also saw in his eyes hope, dreams, values and the greatness of Europe. It represents the promise of a better life. I will also never forget the night the war in Ukraine broke out. Ukraine's freedom is Europe's freedom. It is our freedom. The Europe we want is the freedom to create. It is the freedom to love. Long live freedom, long live Europe.”
I will now conclude this wonderful congress by sharing a few messages. 2024 will not be a year like any other. We must have the clarity to admit that we say this at every election. But today it is extremely important. We live in a changing world, and these changes have never been this fast. The climate challenge is major and must not undermine the well-being of our citizens. We have lived under the illusion that energy fell from the sky and that peace was natural. Yet it is the result of hard work and human intelligence. We must look at the future with enthusiasm. Not the naive enthusiasm of those who think everything will be fine, but the enthusiasm of those who work and refuse fatalism. That is the enthusiasm of Liberals!
A few weeks ago, we launched a communication campaign with red on one side and blue on the other. That embodies the 50 shades of the left. The only alternative is not the parties that call themselves non-traditional while having always been there, those who claim to want to end double office-holding but happily keep piling it up, those who make new things out of old ones, those who want to intensify left-wing recipes by making things even worse than what we have already been served in Hainaut, where the left has killed hope. This alternative is embodied only by the Liberals. Energy, work, security, state neutrality, education: we are the alternative. Being a liberal activist is much harder, because we always seem to be alone or to be the ones spoiling the party. I am proud to chair a party that stops things from going in circles. That acts to extend nuclear power. That values work over welfare dependency. That champions diversity and equality without falling into the pitfalls of communitarianism. I am proud to lead the only party capable of putting our Regions back on track, because it is not dependent on health insurance funds or trade unions. The only candidate for reform and change is the Mouvement Réformateur.
When I state these results, people tell me we are in government. Politics is mathematics. With 14 MPs at federal level, the Liberals achieved everything possible in that configuration, with Sophie Wilmès and David Clarinval in the federal government. We must therefore increase our number of MPs and votes. We must not set ourselves limits. Anything is possible. You will use your hands to shake hands, distribute leaflets, knock on doors. You will travel many kilometres. It will be hard, but it will be good. If you carry that conviction deep within you, the result will be great and victory will belong to the Liberals.
Before an election campaign, we must ask ourselves a question. Why do we run for election? Not to hold a position, but to change things. I will run for election because I believe Belgian politics has become bitter, defeatist, hateful and self-centred. It has lost hope. There is nothing but conflict, a desire to pit people against each other, a fatalism that assumes our children will live worse than we did. I want this hope to be embodied. I want this change to be embodied.
This hope must translate into every issue. Our children can meet the climate challenge without living worse off. Degrowth is not appealing. It means less money for pensions, less capacity to reward our workers, to invest in nuclear power and new technologies. The left considers this model appealing. The absence of liberalism has been tested in 150 countries around the world. None of them is a country of immigration. All are countries of emigration. Refusing growth means refusing the idea that our children will live better than we did. That is not our choice for society. On climate matters, we must choose renewable energy and nuclear power;
Hope will also be reflected in coexistence. We refuse the importing of external conflicts. We consider every citizen as a whole person, not reduced to their skin colour, religion or origin. We want to treat all beliefs equally. Maintaining the neutrality of the State is at the heart of the liberal project. Every individual is equal in terms of rights and opportunity. We do not want to be guided by religious or philosophical beliefs.
Hope will also be reflected in rewarding work. It is not right that social benefits should pay more than work. It is not right that a system traps people in benefits. Belgium's tax and social system condemns people to favour inactivity over work. Lifelong unemployment is such a good idea that no country in the world has copied it from us. Our level of public spending is enormous, and yet the employment rate in Wallonia and Brussels is among the lowest in Europe. I want to send a message to all inactive people. They are not responsible for their situation. The State has a responsibility regarding education and training. But the State will also ask them to be active and will support them to avoid this waste for society and for themselves. Success and work have too long been guilt-laden words. I want to thank all those who work and make sure their work is finally rewarded!
Two final points. First of all, if it is one minute to midnight for our regions, it is because of a level of public spending far higher than the European average. That would be all well and good if it benefited citizens. But not if our education system ranks so poorly in the OECD, if our roads are in poor condition, if justice is so slow, if the police lack resources and staff. That money is being wasted in the name of trade union or health insurance fund lobbies. Public services must once again become services to the public. We are committed to public services, because it is impossible to build a society without structures that bind us together. We therefore want to revalue the civil service and put it back at the service of our citizens. Tomorrow, we will have to spend less and, above all, spend better.
Finally, the future of our political family, our regions and our country is in our hands. For years I have been able to count on your support. I feel your energy and your desire to go into battle. I ask you, over the next six months, to be out on the streets, in businesses, with the people. Citizens are waiting for the liberal project but know little about our goals or are constrained by family habits. So get out into the field and don't let go. With the MR in 2024, the lines will be clear. Onward to victory. Let us be proud to be liberals!
Watch the full congress again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLyiWymzfDY