When he was Minister-President of Wallonia, Elio Di Rupo wanted to relaunch Walloon pride and work on a form of regional patriotism. He himself recognizes that his party, the PS, has a certain number of regionalists adept at political approaches which are reminiscent of confederalism. Socialists have, for a time, worked on an idea of ​​Belgium with four regions, for example. Under the Vivaldi, the federal government even counted within it a regionalist defect in the person of Pierre-Yves Dermagne.
Confederalism or regionalism?
However, Elio Di Rupo does not place these positions on the same level as that of the N-VA. “”The problem [avec les déclarations de Bart De Wever, NdlR], It is that he is Prime Minister of our country, of all Belgians. He has this obsession with independent Flanders and he has control levers. Bart de Wever will not change policy because he becomes Prime Minister. He is a separatist. The new president of the N-VA, Valérie Van Peel, said: “Article 1 of the N-VA statutes, I do not touch it”. It is an article that says that the N-VA aims to independence from Flanders. “
An “orangist” at 16, what consequences for July 21? “There will be no change, Bart de Wever has good relations with the palace”
The N-VA has not abandoned its objective of confederalism. The Minister of State sees it as a huge danger that goes unnoticed in the eyes of Francophones because the latter do not look at what is happening in Flanders. “”Confederalism is all economic power in the Flemish government. The Walloon government will have to manage with almost no money. There will remain an empty shell called Belgium. For Francophones, it is a disaster. “
But is it possible to form a government without placing the N-VA as Prime Minister, knowing that the nationalists came to the top of the electoral results on June 9? If the PS sets out the N-VA and the Vlaams Belang, which represent 50 % of the votes in Flanders, with whom to form a government? “”With your reasoning, the Dutch speakers being 6.5 million and we 4.5 million, until the end of Belgium, it should be a Dutch Prime Minister “, relate Elio Di Rupo. “I would never have been. “
The European deputy recalls that he succeeded in becoming Prime Minister without bringing the N-VA into his government. “”What existed yesterday may not be what will exist tomorrow. There is a difference between the N-VA which participates in a government and the N-VA which has the Prime Minister of the Kingdom. “
