Wouter Beke looks back on resignation as minister: “Some criticism was unfair” | Inland

Wouter Beke (CD&V) resigned as Minister of Welfare during an emotional press conference in May. This happened after a storm of criticism, including after the death of a baby in a nursery in Mariakerke. In his farewell speech, he listed a laundry list of all his achievements. Efforts for which, at least in his eyes, he never received due recognition.

Already a week before his discharge, Beke had burst into tears during a visit to his father. “Yes, that’s right,” the ex-minister told Gert Verhulst. “Those were special weeks. The newspaper then states that you are responsible for the death of that child.” Beke, who was indeed politically responsible for this, said that he snapped when his daughter came home and told what the newspaper said about it.

Presenter Gert Verhulst explained to Beke that he sometimes came across as harsh in the reactions to what happened then. “I try to look at problems rationally,” he said. “Looking at what the problem is, and what the solution is. I think that’s the best way.”

Beke was often under fire at the time, but believes that the minister should be able to deal with criticism. “But some of the criticism was unfair,” he continues today. To deal with that criticism, you need to have a “good home” and “good colleagues”. The fact that he was able to keep it up for so long is due to a “kind of sense of responsibility”.

During the emotional press conference at his resignation, Beke suddenly pulled out a sweater with the slogan ‘Nothing to prove’. “That was not a marketing stunt,” says Beke. “I didn’t know my daughter was going to take it.” He still wears it. “If I go for a walk.”

Beke, who likes to paint in his spare time, had a present for Verhulst. After previously painting a portrait of Angela Merkel, he now had one by Gert Verhulst. The presenter promised to auction it for the benefit of Kom Op Tegen Kanker.