The case of “forgotten rents”, which has been agitating for several weeks the corridors of the Walloon Parliament, has not fallen into oblivion. Ecolo and the PS denounce: the documents sent on June 25 by the Court of Auditors confirm that the Minister of the Public Service, Jacqueline Galant, “lied several times” before the deputies. “She questioned her administration to hide her own mistakes and avoid assuming responsibility. »»
It all started on December 4, 2024, when presenting the initial budget 2025 in parliamentary committee. Jacqueline Galant registered 21.2 million euros for the rents of administrative buildings, the same amount as in 2024.
“An error”
A few months later, during the budget adjustment presented on June 11, 2025, an increase of 8.9 million euros was offered. “While there is nothing more foreseeable than rents,” comments the Ecolo group leader Stéphane Hazée.
Asked about this increase of 42 % by several deputies, the minister justifies: “the administration recognized this error of 9 million euros” and “had obviously omitted to take into account the entry into force of certain rentals”. She also claims to have made any modification to the initial proposals of the administration.
Faced with this accusation, opposition deputies demanded to have access to budgetary documents from the administration, in order to verify the Minister’s statements. But the deputies never won. “Here, we thought there was a eel under rock,” slips the group’s group of the PS, Christie Morreale. In the end, the PS and Ecolo groups then turned to the Court of Auditors. “And there it was big like a house,” said Christie Morreale.
Four new rentals
Contrary to what the Minister said, the administration had requested, from the initial budget 2025, an amount of 27.959 million euros for rents – 6.7 million more than the 21.2 million registered by the Minister. The services had also justified this request by the arrival of four new rentals: Cap Sud, Crosspoint, Renouv’o and Tour Paradis Express.
Opposition fulminates. “At no time does she recognize that she deliberately ignored the request of the administration made for the initial budget. Worse, it publicly instructs the agents of the state and lies before the Parliament. She tried to bring the responsibility of her actions to others, then tried to hide the reality of the facts. And it was taken in the act thanks to the official documents to which the Court of Auditors allowed us to have access. »»
For the PS, this is “in an ideological trend of the MR”. “They attack the public service, advocating the fact that civil servants are incompetent. That, added to the fact that she lied, it is a double betrayal, “said the socialist group head. “Why did you lie? Also wonders Stéphane Hazée. “We have a minister who creates alternative content. And if we did not have the Court of Auditors, we would never have known it. »»
The opposition therefore rises to the niche and points to a “serious political fault in a democracy”. “Lying in Parliament is lying to citizens,” sums up the Ecolo group leader. “Our role is to make all the clarity on the truth,” adds Christie Morreale. “To tell the citizens and the government who obviously was not informed. »»
PS and Ecolo await a reaction from the government. Until a resignation? “This is an answer that belongs to the government,” replies Stéphane Hazée. A resignation against a backdrop of a lie is already heard, we already hear. We will notably remember that of Sarah Schlitz, accused of having lied to the Federal Parliament, concerning the use of her personal logo during subsidized events.
“A storm in a glass of water”
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There is obviously no lie
The cabinet of Minister Jacqueline Galant assures that there has been an inaccuracy in the amounts communicated by the administration “. “Instead of requesting 8,896,000 euros (nearly 9 million), she asked for 6,726,000 euros. There is obviously no lie. ”, Specifies the cabinet via a press release.
For the liberal, the story told by the opposition is a “storm in a glass of water”.
