Invest in Brussels Airport, abolition of the Senate … The N-VA prints its brand. Behind a governance displayed as “effective” hides a deeper ambition: transforming Belgium from the inside. Between strong symbols, strategic refocusing and inheritance of the Madden doctrine, Bart de Wever’s party is advancing in what a Flemish journalist calls “the conquest of Belgium”.
“We will now occupy the fort. And all those who block us socially, economically and democratically, we eject them. This sentence from the book The Conquest of Belgium from Wouter Verscheden, to appear in September in French, sets the tone: the N-VA is no longer content to claim Flemish autonomy, it acts from the heart of federal power-while redrawing, in its own way, the contours of the Belgian state.
The new CVP has arrived
According to political scientist Nicolas Bouteca (Ugent), the N-VA has evolved considerably since its creation. From a thoroughbred nationalist party, the N-VA seeks to become a real “Volkspartij”, a popular party which is positioned at the center of the political game in the manner of Flemish Christians of the CVP, while retaining a regionalist shade. Bart De Wever, its emblematic leader, is clearly inspired by the German Bavarian CSU model: conservative training, manager and solidly rooted in his region.
This rhetorical refocusing is accompanied by a change of message to the voters: “In the past, we said: vote N-VA and you will have an autonomous Flemish government. Today, it’s: vote N-VA and you will have good governance, ”sums up Nicolas Bouteca, professor of political science at the University of Ghent.
“In the past, we said: vote N-VA and you will have an autonomous Flemish government. Today is: vote N-VA and you will have good governance. »»
For Bart Maddens, professor of political science at the Kuleuven close to the Flemish movement, it is above all a question of means and end: “The real Flemish nationalists of the N-VA see their participation in the federal government as a means of arriving at an independent Flanders. The most moderate believe that being at the head of the country is an end in itself. This is how they will improve the situation for the Flemish. »»
Despite the differences in the N-VA, the consensus is clear within the party led by Valérie Van Peel, according to Bart Maddens: “Everyone agrees to say that the N-VA must govern in the Federal. »»
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Gouverning Belgium in Flemish
The N-VA seeks to impose a Flemish way of governing the whole country, notes Nicolas Bouteca a speaking example: the limitation in the time of unemployment benefits. A measure actually has a strong community shade. “Bart de Wever almost said it verbatim: it is a community measure. It affects Wallonia more, where the unemployment rate is higher, ”explains the political scientist.
Nevertheless, Arizona has registered the capital gains tax in its government agreement, which would affect Flemish investors more. “This point is never presented in community terms, the N-VA remains more discreet,” adds Nicolas Bouteca.
According to Bart Maddens, Belgium is paradoxically stronger under the government of the Flemish nationalist of Wever than under the liberal of Croo: “The Arizona government agreement is actually quite neutral on the community. He is content to announce the preparation of a state reform and the creation of a working group, without any concrete measure or specific commitment at this stage. The Vivaldi government was going further in regionalism: it proposed a split in health related skills. »»
“Warm”, “inclusive”, “at the center”: this is how the N-VA presents itself to Francophones
Maddens doctrine: still topical?
Imagined in 2009 by this political scientist of the Ku Leuven, the Maddens doctrine overthrew the usual logic of the Belgian institutional debate. Its principle: no longer to be the eternal “reform applicants” on the Flemish side, but to bring French speakers to become it themselves-even to claim the split of the country.
To achieve this, three levers are put forward: to build an autonomous Flemish system by exploiting institutional levers (such as inter -ky conflicts), drying out the resources of the federally in order to accentuate financial pressure in Brussels and Wallonia, and monitor any refinancing in exchange for new skills for Flanders. At the time, said Maddens, the sixth state reform was in the dead end. “Francophones were not asking for nothing,” he summarizes.
Sixteen years later, some echoes of this doctrine remain, sometimes in more symbolic than concrete forms. Example: Flanders has acquired a “Minister of Justice”, in the person of Zuhal Demir, while on the French -speaking side, we speak more of “Minister of the Maisons of Justice”. A simple difference in title? Not quite. For Maddens, this reflects “an ambition for the future” more than an institutional reality. He sees it as the Flemish desire to continue to assert an autonomy, even if he recognizes that this type of initiative is mainly symbol.
“If the Flemish nationalists prevail in 2024, it will be the end of Belgium as we know it”
Flanders buys shares of Brussels Airport
The N-VA also continues its project to strengthen Flemish power … by focusing on the economy. For Nicolas Bouteca, professor of political science at Ugent, the desire to further control the management of Zaventem airport is part of a clear strategy: “It is a major economic platform located in Flanders. It is logical that the N-VA seeks to make it its airport, its own Flemish infrastructure. »»
Beyond the symbol, this takeover would aim to strengthen the economic autonomy of the Flemish region. “There are often conflicts of interest, for example on the noise standards of thefts above Brussels,” adds Nicolas Bouteca. The N-VA wants to have a foot in the door, as it also wishes in other federal institutions. »»
According to Bart Maddens, it is with this economic measure that its doctrine is most clear today: “The Flemish government uses here an existing competence – investing in a private enterprise – to increase its strategic power, especially on the policy of the national airport. It is a strong decision with long -term consequences. It is much more significant than simple symbolic measures, such as the abolition of the Senate. »»
Deletion of the Senate: a symbolic victory with unexpected repercussions …
Speaking of Senate, the N-VA seems to be on the right track to remove this federal institution. The Ghent political scientist recalls that this high room, although emptied of its substance, was the only institution where federated entities could still meet around the table. “It is the most confederal of institutions, almost the very definition of confederalism,” he explains. “Deleting this room therefore paradoxically amounts to weakening a tool that embodied the confederal logic defended by the N-VA itself. Even if, in practice, federated states have never oriented federal policy in this area. These are the parties that decide on the vote in the Senate, not the federated states. In this sense, the Senate had become superfluous. »»
Bart Maddens abounds in this direction: ”Thanks to the Senate, no reform of the State could be done without the agreement of the federated entities. It was a room where regional parliaments had real institutional power. Today, N-VA and VLAAMS Belang have a majority of blocking in the Dutch-speaking part of the Senate. The N-VA thinks of scoring a point, but in reality, it deprives itself of a major strategic tool to weigh tomorrow. »»
Deletion of the Senate: a community trophy for the N-VA
Invest in defense: a strategy to undermine Belgium?
In these speeches to the House, Paul Magnette, president of the PS, warns against the will of the N-VA to increase the military expenses set by NATO. According to the socialist, it is a diverted way of making Belgium ingoverable which would force massive cuts in other positions – health, pensions, social security.
A hypothesis that Bart Maddens considers unconvincing. He considers this enthusiasm is explained above all by the ideological sensitivity of the party: “The N-VA is a right-wing formation, which attaches great importance to security, defense, and NATO. »»
The political scientist Nicolas Bouteca shares this analysis: “The N-VA relies on budgetary rigor, a principle that she has defended for years, both in Flanders and at the federal level. »»
According to him, wanting to voluntarily suffocate the federal budget would contradict this line of conduct. In short, the militarist posture of the N-VA would be more due to the programmatic coherence of a right-wing party than from a Machiavellian Sabotage Plan of Belgium.
And Bart Maddens to conclude, emphasizing an assumed ambiguity: “Everyone at the N-VA agrees to say that it is a good thing that Bart de Wever has become Prime Minister. But what exactly? Is it to empty Belgium from its substance and advance towards Flemish independence? Or simply to govern this country well? Even within the N-VA, opinions diverge… ”
Rather than buying weapons, the Flemish government wants to build bridges
