Walloon Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo (PS) has published a new book. In ‘Le labyrinthe du pouvoir’ (‘The labyrinth of power’), the now 72-year-old Di Rupo looks back on his atypical political life. He explains, among other things, why he did not resign in 1996 after being accused of pedophilia. If fired, he writes, “only death could have freed me from that nightmare.”
In the book, Di Rupo testifies about the path he has taken. From Morlanwelz in Hainaut – where he was the youngest of seven children in a family with a single mother – to the PS headquarters in Brussels Keizerslaan, Wetstraat 16 and the Elysette in Namur, to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Di Rupo’s mother always keeps her baby close to her. “I don’t know if the feeling of being the chosen one in my early childhood determined my future choices, especially my decision to enter politics and relive through elections the drama of being the chosen one or not, but that certainly offers food for thought,” writes Di Rupo.
As a teenager he doesn’t do well at school, but Di Rupo eventually graduates with a doctorate in science. He gives up his dream of working as a scientist in the United States for a career in politics. He started in the cabinet of federal minister Jean-Maurice Dehousse and became Minister of Education himself in 1992. Two years later, he replaced Guy Coëme in the federal government and became Deputy Prime Minister.
Accused of pedophilia
In November 1996, Di Rupo was accused of pedophilia. It is a case that could have turned his life and career upside down, but after just a few weeks it turns out to be of no use. It appears that behind the accusations lies a démarche orchestrated by the police services, writes Di Rupo. “If I had resigned from the government, there would never have been counter-investigations, nor would there have been a happy outcome. In the eyes of the public, I would have remained that minister who was overthrown in a pedophilia case. Only death could have freed me from that nightmare, a death that I should have hastened,” Di Rupo admits.
If I had resigned from the government, there would never have been counter-inquiries, nor would there have been a happy outcome
The sequel is known. Di Rupo would later become mayor of Mons, became Prime Minister of Wallonia several times, headed the PS for many years and also became Prime Minister in 2011. From his premiership he remembers the shooting at Place Saint-Lambert in Liège, the bus accident in Sierre, the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels, but also the abdication of King Albert II and the issue of his endowment. “I remain convinced that we have committed an infringement of good taste that almost amounts to an insult,” Di Rupo writes.
Di Rupo will stand for election to the European Parliament in the upcoming elections on June 9. “Politics makes me happy and I am ready for the future,” he says.
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