The liberal family gathered in Jemappes to celebrate work. At the heart of the various speakers' addresses: the importance of better rewarding work, which opens the door to emancipation, social relationships and well-being.
To open the congress, which brought together more than 2,000 people at the Lotto Arena in Jemappes, a video recalls the history of the Borinage, once a prosperous industrial region, and that of the rolling mills where the congress is being held. This once-thriving company, which shut its doors, illustrates the region's difficulties. The employment rate in Greater Mons is barely 53%. Public authorities have failed to give the region new momentum. It is therefore a symbolic venue for the MR, as part of its election campaign.
Jacqueline Galant, chair of the Mons-Borinage constituency, then takes the floor. In her municipality of Jurbise, the employment rate is 64%. This shows that liberal policies work, unlike left-wing policies, which paralyse the region for electoral calculation. “Today, those who dominate Wallonia are afraid,” she says. “The trap is turning against them. They are threatened by a more sincere left. It worries me. There is a lack of ideas and proposals. They talk about taxes, alliances with communists, changing their name… But these parties have one thing in common: they don't like us.”
Punctuated by videos presenting the key priorities of all our lead candidates, the congress continues with two panels featuring young candidates and candidates who have recently joined the MR. In this panel, Anne-Catherine Dalcq, a farmer, talks about her motivation for joining the only party that defends the self-employed. Youssef Handichi, who came from the PTB, admits he was wrong and has realised that concrete solutions for workers are found within the MR. Samuel d'Orazio from Tubize, son of trade unionist Roberto D'Orazio, known for his fight during the closure of Forges de Clabecq, explains that the MR has evolved, but so have workers. “Back then we fought for work, not for benefits,” he explains. Losing your job means losing your dignity. May 1st is important to remember the value of work. Today the MR is reaching out to the children of that generation who fell victim to the dependency culture promoted by the left.” Finally, Guglielmo Pastorelli, a former socialist alderman, explains that it was Georges-Louis Bouchez who converted him to liberal values. “The MR isn't about bosses. The MR is far more social than the PS,” he concludes, paying tribute to the work of Caroline Taquin in Courcelles.
Héloïse Renard, Adrien Croonen and Lara Zenginoglu follow them on stage. All under 25, they are running for the first time. These young candidates share the same motivation: to give young people a voice and show them that politics has a concrete impact on their daily lives.
To loud applause, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo then takes the stage before the audience. He simultaneously targets the N-VA and the PS. “The liberal family offers a different path from those who claim that French speakers have no ambition, that their situation is the fault of wicked bosses, that they are destined to depend on Flanders, and that in exchange they would agree to negotiate the end of Belgium. Is that the priority? Will that make your daily life better? I see a Wallonia that is entrepreneurial. Walloons and Flemish people are the same: they want to grow their businesses, to see their efforts rewarded. Let's stop creating divisions between us: everyone shares the same hopes.” Alexander De Croo receives particularly strong applause when he discusses the need to increase the gap between the pensions of people who have worked their whole lives and those who have never worked. “A job is more than a salary: it's a social circle. It's an act of solidarity,” he concludes, recalling that the liberal family has never been better placed to assert its leadership.
MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez finally takes the floor to close the congress by recalling the MR's key priorities for the upcoming 9 June elections. “I grew up 500m from here, in Quaregnon, Rue Jules Destrée,” explains Georges-Louis Bouchez. “I had every quality needed to become a socialist, but their record vaccinated me for life against fatalism. I saw what dependency and an excess of welfare could bring about. It considerably narrowed the horizons of thousands of young people and children. I want to tell them that our region's problem is not economic hardship, but cultural hardship. Just because your father was unemployed, and your grandfather too, doesn't mean you are also destined to depend on welfare. There is hope: don't give in to fatalism! You too have the right to succeed in life, the right to earn money, the right to regain your dignity. Because work is more than a salary: it's a place in society, it's the chance to change your circumstances. I say to all of them that in Jemappes too, it is possible to take control of your own destiny thanks to the Mouvement Réformateur.”
“If the left resents us so much, it's because, by drifting further and further from the truth, it increasingly hates those who speak it,” said the MR President, who also stressed the need to put our public finances back on track, along with necessary reforms in education (compulsory schooling from age 3, assessment at the end of the 3rd year of primary school to detect problems earlier) and in training policy: “vocational training must be an asset that lets people change their lives. We must ensure that no one is locked into their job. People want change and flexibility. That's why we propose limiting unemployment benefits over time, as well as the right to resign, in order to help people change the course of their lives rather than sending them into unemployment or locking them into disability certificates. This means more trust in workers.”
Georges-Louis Bouchez recommends a “Detax” cure to “Raoul, Paul and Jean-Marc”. “Our country is the world champion of taxation. How can anyone imagine adding another 10 to 20 billion euros in taxes! Ecolo wants tax reform for people earning less than 4,000 euros gross per month. A teacher with 10 to 15 years of experience earns more than that. Yet they too deserve a tax cut. The MR will never divide the middle class,” thunders the MR President, who mentions his major projects such as raising the tax-free allowance or revising the tax brackets, for greater tax progressivity and better reward for work. Lowering taxation on SMEs is also part of this goal.
As the congress draws to a close, the MR President invites candidates and activists to give their all and gain confidence (“the confidence of a 4-year-old child wearing a Batman costume”). “During this campaign, we're putting ourselves at risk, reaching out to a different audience, going where we're not expected. It's a risk. But our ideas are supported by a majority of the population. We must show them that this is our project,” says Georges-Louis Bouchez, before the various personalities present join him on stage to close the event.
Read the full transcribed speech by the MR President
Relive the 1 May congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRKkSmbwWY&ab_channel=DREAMR