On Wednesday evening, during the plenary session in the Chamber, a simple quorum vote degenerated into a ridiculous controversy. The MR denounces this as a diversion attempt, a poor soap opera written by a PS that has run out of arguments.
Given the scale the incident took on that Wednesday evening in the Chamber, the MR group decided to respond. On Wednesday evening, during the plenary session, a simple quorum vote degenerated into a ridiculous controversy, orchestrated by the Parti Socialiste.
Around 8:30 pm, when proceedings resumed, it was agreed that a presence vote would take place at the end of the questions addressed to Mr Piedboeuf.
When that moment arrived, the reminder was issued to announce the vote in plenary session.
The Speaker opened the vote quickly while MPs were still entering the chamber. Seeing Mr Ducarme heading down towards the benches, Mathieu Michel signalled his neighbour Denis Ducarme's presence by pressing his button. A simple courteous gesture intended to make sure his presence was properly recorded. The latter was indeed present in the chamber, just a few metres from his seat, as the official footage shows. But the vote seems to have been rushed by the Speaker.
This gesture, admittedly clumsy but with no fraudulent intent whatsoever, was immediately turned by the PS into a matter of State.
Without losing a second, the Parti Socialiste blows this minor episode out of proportion, cries foul over cheating, and demands sanctions, in a theatrical excess worthy of a bad sketch.
But what is this really about?
This was neither a legislative vote, nor a vote committing to any bill. It was a simple formality: the presence vote. And above all, Denis Ducarme was there, inside the Chamber. He did not delegate his vote, he did not leave the premises. The PS knows this. But prefers to pretend otherwise.
An opposition running amok that prefers chaos to reforms
Instead of taking part in the debates, it tries by every means to block proceedings, divert attention and slow down the reforms our country so badly needs.
But today, a simple courteous gesture becomes, in their eyes, an attack on democracy. That is grotesque.
Mathieu Michel: “A clumsy move, perhaps. Cheating, certainly not!”
“I wanted to be courteous towards my colleague, who was a few metres away and would be delayed by another colleague sitting in his way. The vote was launched quickly, without everyone present yet being seated. I can understand that some consider this clumsy. But there was no intention whatsoever to cheat or manipulate anything. I deeply regret the exploitation some are trying to make of this event.”
“We all bear the immense responsibility of raising the level of debate in our country. Belgium deserves better than this squabbling,” concludes the liberal MP.