The sister of Jean-Marie Dedecker (LDD), mayor of Middelkerke, has responded in an open letter in HUMO to an earlier interview in which her brother claims that he grew up in an underprivileged family with seven children. After all, sister Claire disagrees. “He is doing my parents a great injustice by claiming that he has not been given many opportunities,” she writes.
In the HUMO interview with columnist Noël Slangen and Jean-Marie Dedecker van last Monday, the mayor claims that he comes from an underprivileged family with seven children. “I wore my older brother’s clothes, including a brown sweater with one yellow sleeve that my mother had sewn on herself. As a 12-year-old I had been working at the bakery for two months. With that money I bought a bicycle to go to the college,” says Dedecker.
But sister Claire strongly denies her brother’s claims. “My father was a civil servant, chief inspector at the WZK, the current Aquafin, and my mother was a housewife. All children, five boys and two girls, were given every opportunity to develop without discrimination and there was certainly no question of child labor from the age of 12,” she writes in an open letter. “All seven of us were members of the Chiro and went camping every summer. We were there on every school trip. Four boys were members of the judo club, the youngest played football.”
We grew up in a warm nest, lacked nothing and were given every opportunity
“Growing up in a warm nest”
“Jean-Marie followed Latin humanities in the colleges of Nieuwpoort and Veurne. He was also allowed to participate in the fourteen-day school trip to Rome during the Easter holidays of the senior year of the humanities”, Claire continues. “After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Ghent, at the Faculty of Medicine. However, he failed in the first year. He was then given a second chance by my parents, although two sons were still studying for higher education. Jean-Marie then started the first candidacy in law, but stopped his studies in the course of the academic year.”
Claire thinks her brother is doing their parents a “great injustice” by claiming that he had no chance. “This really upsets me. We grew up in a warm nest, lacked nothing and were given every opportunity. We can’t be thankful enough for the beautiful, carefree childhood we were able to experience. Not everyone has that privilege,” she concludes.
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