The dossier regarding the cancellation of bus rides in special education rocked Flemish politics. Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA) looks back on a turbulent week at VTM NIEUWS.
After De Lijn proactively informed parents in special education that 204 bus lines would be cut due to savings, De Ridder was met with a storm of criticism. After consultation in parliament, the controversial savings will now definitely not be made – De Lijn will even receive an extra 11 million to fund student transport over the next two years.
“It was not a pretty spectacle,” De Ridder emphasizes. “But the most important thing is that the Flemish government made an agreement on Friday, whereby we can reassure parents and say very clearly that no rides will be canceled.”
Impact underestimated
De Ridder admits that the situation escalated after she discovered that the budget had been severely exceeded, despite an earlier doubling from 70 to 140 million euros in recent years.
“We cannot conjure up money,” says De Ridder. “If you see that there is already an exceedance shortly after that doubling, then you have to intervene. Otherwise we would have had to make savings in the rest of Flanders.”
De Ridder emphasizes that she has been transparent in parliament about her plans for a thorough reform, but still takes her own initiative about communication and the timing of the measures. “I think we collectively underestimated the sensitivity of the theme and its impact a bit,” she says. “It is better to first come up with the bridge and then reform later. We should have approached it differently.”
The authority for student transport will eventually be transferred to Education, a dossier of fellow party member and minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA), who previously opposed that plan. However, De Ridder denies that she has been pushed back or put under pressure by the government.
“Minister of Antwerp”
Student transport is not the only thing De Ridder was under fire for this week. Local authorities have long expressed their dissatisfaction about how their applications have been taking so long, while there always seems to be money for Antwerp and the Oosterweel project.
“That is a completely unjustified framing,” De Ridder responds sharply. “At first I could laugh about it a bit, because I ultimately have to be re-elected in Antwerp, but it is at odds with reality. We have approved an investment plan with the entire government, which includes priorities for the whole of Flanders.”
Seven billion
According to De Ridder, the fact that money for local traffic works, such as dangerous cycle paths, is not flowing as quickly as hoped is due to unrealistic promises from the past.
“In the past, they were made to believe that anything can be started,” De Ridder explains. “My Roads and Traffic agency can spend 700 million annually, but if you add up everything that is ready in Flanders, that is a total of seven billion.”
De Ridder wants to remain realistic about expenditure. “If all those local authorities were told in the past: ‘We are going to do that’, then that is not realistic. We have to make choices.”
