Open Vld chairman Tom Ongena: “We can go to the voters with our heads held high” | Domestic

The Flemish liberals gathered tonight in the Brussels concert and banquet hall La Madeleine for their New Year’s reception. This happened under a special constellation: the June elections are approaching, and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s party is on the defensive. In the latest poll, the Flemish liberals barely get 7.1 percent.

However, party chairman Tom Ongena is not in despair, as was evident from his speech. “In the coming weeks and months, we will enter into the election battle with our heads held high and with full conviction, to convince the many voters who have not yet decided.”

Ongena wants to convince this undecided voter with the liberal record of recent years. He praised the Prime Minister, under whose leadership our country “is one of the few European countries to have emerged stronger from the energy crisis”, and referred to the expansion of flexi-jobs and the introduction of the Flemish job bonus. “We don’t just say that work should be better rewarded, we also do it. We don’t just say that the difference between working and not working should be greater, we also do it. We don’t just say that we should support entrepreneurs and companies better, we also do it. We liberals have made a difference,” he said. Open Vld can therefore “go to the voter with its head held high,” Ongena concluded.

And those elections will be crucial, the Liberal chairman warned. Prosperity and freedom are at stake, he argued, with a sneer at socialists and communists, “who are blocking necessary reforms” and “green parties, who are becoming more and more captivated by the degrowth madness.”

On the right, Vlaams Belang and the N-VA were criticized. “We should not let our prosperity be jeopardized by nationalists and extremists who want to block our country after the elections,” said Ongena. “We don’t need lengthy government formations, a procession of scouts, deminers or informants.” He called the proposal by N-VA chairman Bart De Wever, who wants to quickly appoint a business cabinet after the elections in anticipation of larger reforms, “unrealistic play”.

Prime Minister De Croo also made it clear that the Liberals are ready for “institutional adventures” after the elections. In recent months, the Prime Minister has often presented himself and his party as the opposite of the N-VA. He did that again tonight. While the Flemish nationalist leader Bart De Wever does everything he can to realize confederalism, the liberals opt for “institutional adventures with our future”. “Let us not lose ourselves in endless discussions about yet another state reform,” De Croo pleaded. “That is a loss of energy and prosperity.”

The liberals do want to talk about ways to make the country more efficient, with “less government, less administration and less hassle”. “But not if the intention is to use the scissors in our country for the umpteenth time. To split things up, you have to go to the wizards.”

About his own ambitions – a repeat stay in the Sixteen? – the Prime Minister did not have it, but De Croo highlighted his record and that of his government several times. He reacted against those with a “blind obsession with calling everything in our country rotten”. “Not making headlines every day with yet another strong statement, but achieving results and, above all, working together so that people are in a better position. We do that.”

So no community adventures after the elections, but the liberals are also going to voters with a traditional message of freedom. Open Vld wants to enshrine the “ethical achievements for which we have fought hard” – in this case the right to abortion and euthanasia – in the constitution. “For our prosperity. For our freedom. That is the aim of June 9,” Ongena summarized the message.