On this 1 May 2025, in Charleroi, the President of the Mouvement Réformateur, Georges-Louis Bouchez, delivered a strong, straightforward speech, true to the clarity that citizens expect from their political leaders. A speech of direction, consistency and truth.
Amid major transformations within the country, but also at European level, Georges-Louis Bouchez firmly recalled the responsibility resting on the MR, now the driving force of economic and social recovery at every level of government. “On 9 June, the Belgians voted for a break. Victory is not an end point, it is a starting point.”
The President gave a clear-eyed assessment of the situation in Wallonia, Brussels and at federal level, while detailing the reforms under way: limiting unemployment benefits, activation, cracking down on abuse, support for entrepreneurs and the self-employed. He also affirmed his determination to restore discipline in public finances, rebalance rights and duties, and finally make solidarity both fair and effective.
He denounced the double standards of those who call themselves progressive yet block every reform, recalled that social complacency is not progress, and that political courage means acting, even when it is difficult. “Work is no longer an option, it is a collective requirement. Solidarity cannot be one-sided. It requires effort from both sides.”
Finally, in a strong message addressed to the Brussels Region, he affirmed the MR's determination not to let the democratic victory of 9 June be stolen, and to put forward a general policy statement in the coming weeks that remains true to the mandate received.
This speech is a major political statement, well worth reading to understand the moment we are living through, the values guiding us, and the direction we have chosen to take.
Read here the full speech by Georges-Louis Bouchez at the 1 May 2025 congress
Good day to all, Thank you for your large turnout. How good it feels to see you again, because here we see happy people, smiling people, and the beers stay in the glasses! We will of course meet again around a barbecue, and I promise you that. Mathieu Bihet will have to put on his lion costume as the Mattress King again, because when you're a minister of the Mouvement Réformateur, you have to know how to give of yourself. But more seriously, dear friends, this is our first big gathering since the 9 June elections. We did have our New Year's tour, the participation congresses for the various governments, but this is the first time we have the chance to meet around our 1st of May, that great Labour Day we celebrate every year. So this 1st of May has a very particular flavour, because on 9 June our fellow citizens made a clear choice: to put work back at the heart of society. Work that must be better rewarded, work also at school, work at every level of society. A choice that favours merit over welfare dependency, effort over clientelism. It is the choice of a break with fatalism. It is the choice of liberal optimism. Ladies and gentlemen, I hear fears. That is normal. Every time we want to bring reforms, there are people who ask questions about their future. We respond to these fears through our government action. We also respond on the ground, since every evening I go to a municipality in our country, whether in Wallonia, Brussels or Flanders, to listen, explain our reforms and answer questions. But ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake. Others today are exploiting fears. They do so for a simple reason, Raoul, Paul, Thierry or Jean-Pascal. Because our victory is their despair. Their despair at seeing their world collapse. The world where misery was a business. The world where welfare dependency guaranteed electoral results. The world where they loved the poor so much they manufactured more of them every day. We intend to draw a line under that world. And what nerve to come and lecture us on management when you look at their own record. Today they tell us that great social hardship looms. Have you seen the statistics for Wallonia, and in particular for Charleroi, the city where we are today, and I say it right away, a city for which I have a special love, the city where my son was born? This city, the leading city of Wallonia, which should be the engine of our country, faces a dramatically low employment rate. One in two people of working age does not work, and the level of poverty is very high. Imagine that Denis, Nicolas and Anthony were recently able to talk about this in the municipal council, because the majority had the brilliant idea of taxing coffins. In Charleroi, you cannot escape tax, even when you're dead! So yes, we will bring about this break for which people voted. Today I do not wish to talk about that left which daily tells us there would be a danger from the far right. That all who do not think as they do would be fascists. Let me be clear: the far right is a mortal danger to our democracies, a mortal danger to our well-being, a mortal danger to our ability to live together. But today, we must acknowledge that it is the left that holds the monopoly on political violence. It is far-left activists today who attack representatives of the centre and the right over disagreements. It is left-wing activists who prevent debates. It is left-wing activists who damage our buildings. It is left-wing activists who threaten us daily on social media. So I want to affirm this forcefully before you: no pasarán for the far right, no pasarán for the far left. Today, ladies and gentlemen, we run only one risk. That of not implementing all the reforms contained in the government agreements. Because these reforms, perhaps for the first time in the country's history, were announced in advance. If people voted for us, it was with full knowledge of the facts. There is no reform in the government agreements that I have not defended over the past 5 years. Whether it be the time-limiting of unemployment benefits, the right to resign, the fight against false sick notes, a strengthening of migration rules, a stricter justice system. All these points have been defended for many years, just as you, dear Gabriel, also defend the need for industrial, military, and above all energy autonomy. Thanks to the action of liberal ministers, in less than 3 months of government we have passed a 2-year limit on unemployment benefits, which still seemed impossible a few months ago. Because yes, Gabriel, imagine that in our country some people made others believe that solidarity meant keeping people in inactivity. Some made people believe that lifelong unemployment could be a prospect. Some still today defend a social model that even Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France doesn't dare to defend, that tells you something. Some today believe that having more than 35% of working-age people not working would be the success of a social model. Well, no, that is not the choice of our fellow citizens, and since I sometimes hear commentators saying they wish to see a direction, a course, I would answer that it has never been clearer. Our vision is clear. People who are genuinely ill must be supported, must be better assisted than they are today. People who become unemployed must be activated within the first hours, must be supported in returning to work. All those who suffer a misfortune in life must find a helping hand; solidarity will be total towards those who truly need it. But at the same time, we will track down all fraud. Tax fraud, of course. But also social fraud. Because yes, in our country there are fraudulent certificates, there are people today benefiting from solidarity while not being ill. Yes, today our social system has led some people to prefer not working to working. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there are health insurance funds and unions that have turned social precariousness into a business. We will put an end to these mechanisms. Honest people have nothing to fear. But those who cheat will find us in their way. I have a message for them: the Mister Cash is closed. This policy is also reflected across all federal reforms. David Clarinval will carry out more than 200 labour market reforms. They aim in particular to give entrepreneurs more freedom. In politics, it is so easy to attack those who have invested, who save, who head their own company. Before this congress, together with Gabriel, we met a series of CEOs of major groups in our country. These groups generate thousands of jobs. These groups will also be the tools of our well-being, our security and our European autonomy. So yes, whether the left likes it or not, we support businesses. No, we do not defend the rich, but I must make a great confession to you. I do indeed have a major difference with my left-wing counterparts. I do not hate the rich, I do not hate those who set up businesses. I do not hate those who save. I do not hate those who invest, because I want a society with workers, with working women and men. That society will also require supporting entrepreneurs. Business owners are people who take risks, people who create jobs, people who create activity. This federal policy will also, for the first time in our country's history, have coherence with the regional levels thanks to the electoral symmetry between the parties that make up these various majorities. That is why, in the coming weeks, Pierre-Yves Jeholet will present a comprehensive reform of the employment activation landscape at local level, whether for the MIREs, the CISSs, the local employment agencies, and the CPAS will be strengthened to be able to support people individually. I am astonished to hear the idea that people who no longer receive unemployment benefits after 2 years would automatically go to the CPAS. Do you know, ladies and gentlemen, that there are 170,000 available jobs in our country? Is it truly inevitable to remain inactive throughout one's life? Does someone who has been unemployed for more than 2 years still have a prospect of finding a job if they are not individually supported? I think asking the question answers it. So yes, we will ensure that the CPAS can support people one by one to help them overcome health difficulties, training difficulties, self-confidence difficulties. So that these people can regain prospects, we will ensure that anyone receiving the social integration income is also required to contribute to community work. Because once again, for solidarity to work, it must go both ways. Solidarity, ladies and gentlemen, is like love, it cannot be one-sided, it must be a daily effort from both sides! That is why no one will be left by the roadside, but everyone will take part in the collective effort. These reforms must also be applicable in the Brussels-Capital Region. So today I would like to have a special word for the people of Brussels, and among them for David Leisterh. I would like to say one thing to Ahmed Laaouej: you will not steal our victory from us! Contrary to what is sometimes claimed rather loosely, the people of Brussels did not vote for the left. They made the Mouvement Réformateur the leading political force in the capital. They did even better: they supported the MR, but not only. They supported French-speaking parties, they supported Flemish parties, and when you add it all up, you end up today with a region, and this is the whole difficulty of the exercise, made up of 2 blocs. One bloc ranging from the centre to the right, which makes up roughly 42 seats. And a bloc ranging from the left to the far left, which forms a bloc of equal size. That is the problem in Brussels today. Our capital is divided, split in two. This division is also reflected in the socio-economic indicators. Just imagine that in Brussels you are 4 times more likely to fall into deep poverty than anywhere else in Belgium, that the average income per inhabitant is the lowest in our country, and that life expectancy there is among the lowest. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, we will not let the victory be stolen from us, because Brussels deserves better. Brussels has every asset to be a European engine of economic development, of knowledge, of well-being, of tolerance. But for 20 years, this region has been driven towards bankruptcy. By an Unbowed Belgium ranging from the PTB to the PS, via Ecolo. With a dramatic record. Brussels today has a deficit of 2.7 billion euros on a budget of just over 7 billion. No public entity in our country is in such a dramatic situation. So, as I said, not letting the victory be stolen means also taking responsibility. That is what we have been doing for months, and we are not fooled. We have clearly seen the left's game, aimed at preventing us from forming a parliamentary majority, or allowing it only on their own strict conditions. But today, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you two things. First, David Leisterh will never agree to be the Minister-President of a region that continues its policies of deficit, unemployment and precariousness. So no, we will not form a government on the terms of this left, which has been failing for 20 years. We will fully assume our responsibility. That is why, after so many blockages and political games, we will table a general policy statement during the month of June, of which we will be the authors. We will table it directly to Parliament, and that will be the moment of truth. Those who want to reward work, who want to end welfare dependency, who genuinely want to resolve the housing crisis, those who want to restore the Capital Region's finances, those who want to guarantee living together and security will join us. From the moment this text is tabled, there will no longer be two choices. There will be only one. That of joining this wind of reform desired by our fellow citizens, or that which seeks to let the situation rot. But I have said it many times: Brussels must not be synonymous with guardianship. So, very solemnly today, I make an appeal to the Brussels political class. The people of Brussels voted for change. We will make that change happen through our proposals. That change is up to you to support so that Brussels regains its place as capital. Since I am talking about Brussels… We are fortunate that Brussels is the capital of Europe and hosts the seat of the European institutions. It is sometimes shared with Strasbourg. I would not want a diplomatic incident with our possible future presidential candidate, but it is in Brussels that the heart of Europe beats. This Europe must face up to a changing world. It is too late, and above all pointless, to weep. To weep over an election, to weep over another country's political choice. To weep over the evolution of the world. What is needed above all is to be an actor, an actor in this global change we are witnessing. To be an actor in society's transformations, in technological innovations, in this artificial intelligence which will be the industrial revolution of a new kind. Transformations that risk, ladies and gentlemen, completely redrawing the map of the world between countries that have chosen progress and countries that turn inward, seeing every technological advance as a threat, when in fact every technical progress offers a new opportunity for greater well-being for those capable of mastering all its aspects. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, as I have said before you, Europe must become a power again. To be a power, Europe must be a land of progress, of technology; it must also guarantee its industrial autonomy, its energy autonomy and its military autonomy. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I dare say it, for far too many years we have been hostages, and today we are victims of a certain political correctness. Which made us believe that industry was somehow bad, or that we could guarantee energy security with wind turbines. We also talk a lot about security issues. But the question of cybersecurity is just as important. And at the same time, trade issues show just how much the world needs more liberalism. I witnessed, ladies and gentlemen, a moving and historic moment in Parliament. A few weeks ago, I saw all the left's leaders march to the podium to weep and complain about Donald Trump's customs tariffs. Against those very tariffs which featured in their own election manifestos. Those parties who criticised us so much, dear Adrien, when we wanted to sign the free trade agreement with Canada. Those parties who systematically fight against the free market, against globalisation, against liberal economics. Today, Trump's madness shows just how much the free market, globalisation and liberal economics are the engines of human progress, which have enabled economic development, improved health conditions, and a level of shared education never before achieved in human history. So today, ladies and gentlemen, rather than weeping over the situation, we must go and sign new trade treaties. We must strengthen our industry. We must no longer be merely a land of consumption, but must become again that land of creation and production which has always characterised Europe's history. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, today more than ever, we need this Europe of freedom, built on values: equality between men and women, that freedom of expression so dear to us, that neutrality or secularism of the state, dear Gabriel, for which you have fought so hard and continue to fight in France. This Europe which must give everyone a genuine society of equal opportunity. This Europe of values, whose vocation is not to withdraw into itself, but to shine out onto the world. Today, Europe must no longer merely endure; Europe must act for greater prosperity, greater optimism and greater equality. I would like to conclude by saying this. I hear the criticism, but above all I hear and see the expectations. I see the support of the population. We have never received so many messages of support. We have never received so much gratitude from working women and men who finally feel valued, from women and men who know that, at last, in Belgium, we are going to set the model straight again. We will ensure that justice guides our action. So, ladies and gentlemen, I know that facing us is a militant left. Sometimes hateful, I dare say. But do not lower your heads, because we have the support of the people. The elections showed it. Above all, we have a project. This project is what unites people. This project is what gives prospects. This project is what gives our country a future. So be assured that we will walk alongside you. But walk with your heads held high, walk with your heads straight. Today we are taking over an extremely difficult situation, but we are not afraid, because courage is and has always been what characterises liberals. The Belgians made their choice on 9 June. We must show ourselves worthy of it. We must always remember that an electoral victory is not a gift, but a responsibility. Today, this responsibility must translate into our effort, our action, our presence on the ground. So, ladies and gentlemen, I invite you not to abandon the streets. A year ago I asked you to mobilise because there were only a few weeks left before the elections. Well, today I ask you again to mobilise, because in a sense there are only a few weeks left before the next elections, and we must persuade, because our victory of last June must not be a magical parenthesis. It must be the beginning of a new world. It must be the beginning of a new path for Belgium, for Wallonia, for Brussels. So yes, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the day, but above all, from tomorrow, go back to your branches, stay in contact, listen to our fellow citizens, explain our action, and above all be proud to be liberals!