Hilde Crevits (CD&V) succeeds Wouter Beke as Flemish Minister of Welfare. Her powers Work, Economy and Agriculture go to Jo Brouns (47), who is currently still a Flemish Member of Parliament. The 150 members of the party council approved the proposal of the CD&V top with 87 percent.
Since the resignation of Wouter Beke (CD&V) as Flemish Minister of Welfare, the rumor mill has been running at full speed about his succession. Various scenarios were reviewed. For example, it was rumored that CD&V would conjure a white rabbit – like former minister Inge Vervotte – out of its hat. Another route was to give a young talent a chance. Or just an experienced hand to shift to Wellbeing.
Why Jo Brons? This is what CD&V chairman Joachim Coens says:
So it was the latter. Hilde Crevits (CD&V) is an experienced minister who moves to the heavy Welfare portfolio. She also gets Family, Public Health and Poverty Reduction on top. However, she loses her precious Agriculture competence. This weekend she had stated in VTM NIEUWS that she would like to keep it.
Check out what Crevits said earlier at VTM NIEUWS:
By making Flemish MP Jo Brouns a minister, the Christian Democrats can immediately launch a new face. As a Limburger and ‘young’ forties, he also had two advantages.
Watch Jo Brouns’ first reaction to his ministerial post here:
Brouns was a cabinet employee of various CD&V ministers: from 2007 to 2008 at Jo Vandeurzen, from 2008 to 2009 at Steven Vanackere and from 2009 to 2019 again at Vandeurzen.
Brouns has been mayor of Kinrooi since 2013. He succeeded his father Hubert, who was mayor of the Limburg municipality for a total of 16 years. In 2019, he was elected to the Flemish Parliament as Vandeurzen’s successor. Brouns is married and has three children.
PVDA: “This does not solve problems”
The far-left opposition party PVDA reacts critically to the reshuffle of CD&V in the Flemish government. “A new Minister of Welfare will not suffice to solve the problems for which Beke had to resign”, reacts party leader Jos D’Haese. According to him, the cause lies deeper, namely in the vision of the government itself. A vision that “focuses on austerity, underfinancing and privatization”.
The PVDA is therefore not confident that Crevits will make the problems disappear. According to Flemish MP Lise Vandecasteele, the policy under Beke lacked resources and a logic of privatization and commercialization predominated. “And that is the responsibility of the entire Flemish government. Crevits did exactly the same at the VDAB: savings and outsourcing, with all the consequences that entails for the service.”
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