The torments having led from Guillaume Boutin and to the appointment of Stijn Bijnens at the head of Proximus are illustrative of a certain Flemishization of Belgium. Even if there will be a balance with a chairman of the French -speaking board of directors.
A small revolution is underway at Proximus. Appointed mid-June, the Limburgian Stijn Bijnens, former CEO of the company of IT Cegeka, will take, at the start of the school year in September, the succession of Guillaume Boutin, who left his talents at Vodafone after being subjected to violent political criticism.
This is the “Flemish first CEO of the company” noted the Standard At the time of his designation. “The tradition in Proximus wanted us to designate French -speaking CEOs with, in succession, Didier Bellens, Dominique Leroy and Guillaume Boutin, specified the daily. In the past, there was only one Flemish at its head, John Goossens.” But the company was still named Belgacom, between 1995 and 2002.
“Not a bad thing”
“I do not know if the simple fact that it is Flemish is good news,” smiles Michaël Freilich, deputy N-VA, at the origin of the political storm which rocked Proximus at the start of the year. Let’s say that this will facilitate communication between us. ” It was notorious that the French Guillaume Boutin did not master Vondel’s language.
Within Proximus, it is recalled that the designation of Stijn Bijnens is the result of an official procedure, carried out by a head hunter. Nothing community, therefore. In addition, a legal balance provides that if the CEO is Flemish, the chairmanship of the board of directors returns to a French -speaking, probably a liberal.
“The fact that it is Flemish is, moreover, not a bad thing, supports Haroun Fenaux, director of communication of the company. Flanders is a crucial market for us and competition is tough with, in particular, a very aggressive Telenet. Strategically, it is good to have a CEO which knows this reality well and which will be able to defend Proximus on the television set Ter zake.”
The chairmanship of the board of directors will still remain a little Flemish: the board of directors has temporarily extended the mandate of the outgoing president, Stefaan de Clerck (CD&V), the time to find the rare pearl. The MR has appointed Franck-Philippe Georgin, a former… collaborator of the ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy to represent him in the new council. “A political choice, I assume it, defended Georges-Louis Bouchez. You have to know what you want. Either the state is a shareholder, acts as a shareholder and make the decisions. Either we do nothing and, in this case, we just have to sell the box.” He does not say it by chance: for the Flemish nationalists, such is the stake.
Put order in the house
“What is certain is that the new CEO has work to do, creaks Michaël Freilich. He will have to put order in the house, restore his value to the company before the debate on a sale at the end of the legislature is carried out.”
The outgoing boss, Guillaume Boutin, left to take up a new challenge at Vodafone, where he heads the “Investments and Strategy” department. But two of the parties of the majority Arizona, the N-VA and the MR, strongly dispute its balance sheet; They had also obtained to hear it in Parliament because of the course of the action in free fall, at the beginning of the year.
“The results show that my criticisms were founded,” said Michaël Freilich. “The former CEO, Guillaume Boutin, embarked on this international adventure with money he did not have. This strategy has completely failed. All those who know the sector well saw him coming.”
According to Michaël Freilich, the purchase of the American Telesign in 2017 and especially that of the Indian Mobile Route in 2023-24 could cost the company very dear in terms of the value. It assesses potential losses to “some 400 million euros”. SURASH PATEL, chief income officent From Proximus Global, was also removed from his duties, at the end of July, after the presentation of the disastrous results of this dome of the operator’s international activities at the start of the year.
“Amateurism”
The elected N-VA also wants the board of directors, particularly its president, Stefaan de Clerck (CD&V). “His role was to see if the CEO did not do nonsense,” he said. “The problem is that Stefaan de Clerck, as charming as it is, has no knowledge of the sector. It is worth for all parties. Karel de Gucht, former European Open VLD commissioner, came to advice, but was concerned with anything else.”
“This need for party is worth for my party too,” says Michael Freilich. The N-VA had no administrator and appointed Koen Kennis since the beginning of April, Antwerp alderman and “a great connoisseur of finances”, according to him. He was before that administrator … at Telenet’s. For the nationalist deputy, the international mess, based on outdated products, comes down into a sentence: “It’s amateurism!”
“The Belgian state, bad shareholder”
The Flemish nationalist agenda comes before anything else through a restart of the Proximus house, before paying the company in the big, wider debate on the sale of public participations alongside Bpost.
The Flemish nationalist agenda comes before anything else through a restart of the Proximus house.
“I wish STIJN BIJNENS, as well as to the next chairman of the board of directors, which will be French -speaking, launches Michael Freilich. The moment of a reset came. He will have to put order in the business and revalue the company, so that it can be partially selling it at the end of the legislature. ” The nationalist is favorable to the Belgian state to sell the “marketing” part, while keeping “the infrastructure, essential for our strategic autonomy”. data centersit’s incomprehensible, ”he sighs.
At the Proximus discharge, it must be recognized that the state did not do everything in its duty to help its modernization. The deployment of optical fiber represents a considerable weight. These “very important” investments – 6 billion in all! – are assumed by Proximus on equity, recalled Stefaan de Clerck, during the hearing in Parliament. “It is an imperative necessity because the ‘copper’ network is no longer enough,” he insisted. Since then, the company has concluded and announced agreements with other network operators to share these infrastructure, both with Orange Belgium in Wallonia and with Wire and Telenet in Flanders.
“The state can remain in the majority, but it is necessary to evolve, said Georges-Louis Bouchez at the time of these criticisms. We must stop at a private partner whose job is to have a real industrial strategy. Proximus takes advantage of the fact that the shareholder is the state, but the state is the worst shareholder in the world. Especially in Belgium.”
And it is a French -speaking who says it.
