Eva De Bleeker became the new leader of the Flemish liberal Open VLD party at the weekend. She narrowly defeated Vincent Verbeecke in the second round of the internal elections. A tough task now awaits her: getting PM Alexander De Croo’s party that suffered a major defeat in the June poll back on track. Ms De Bleeker got the support of 56 per cent of the liberal votes cast.
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New Flemish liberal leader not ruling out joining the Belgian government
Colin Clapson
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Ms De Bleeker is a former secretary of state for the budget, who was dismissed after a mistake surfaced in the calculations, and a current Flemish MP.
‘We are going to write a new liberal story and it is not a second too soon’ Ms De Bleeker said after her victory. ‘We are going to rebuild the party step by step. We are going to rewrite the entire liberal party programme with everyone who wants to help set out that new course.’
‘Back to basics’
Ms De Bleeker campaigned with the slogan ‘back to basics’. She is eager to reinstate the ‘basic liberal values’ as a compass for her party and promises to involve members and local branches much more.
The new leader faces the tough task of steering the party out of the doldrums. Open VLD achieved a particularly poor result in the June elections: 8 per cent. In exactly 50 days, local elections are being held.
Opposition benches or ministerial cars?
The new Open VLD leader Eva De Bleeker also no longer seems to be ruling out the possibility of the Flemish liberals joining a federal coalition if they are needed.
‘We are going to see step by step what happens at the negotiating table. The only thing we can do as a liberal party is to support a liberal programme.’
The suggestion of the Flemish liberals joining the federal coalition talks surfaced earlier this week after Francophone liberal leader Georges-Louis Bouchez vetoed a capital gains tax on shares. There was speculation he was obstructing the talks because he would be happy to swap Flemish socialist Vooruit for his Flemish liberal Open VLD colleagues. However, that government would have a very tight 1-seat majority and not possess a majority among Flemish federal lawmakers.