Focus on Flanders 13, press review on Wednesday 2 April 2003 -------------- ANTWERP --------------- PATRICK JANSSENS BECOMES MAYOR OF ANTWERP Patrick Janssens will be the new mayor of Antwerp. The SP.A's and VLD's top politicians in Antwerp reached agreement on this on Monday 31 March. For two weeks the Liberals had backed the counter-candidacy of Hugo Coveliers, the parliamentary party chairman of the VLD in the House, but on Monday the Liberal negotiators dropped their demand. At the weekend the Liberal party leadership had already paved the way for a compromise. In an interview in De Morgen (29 March) chairman Karel De Gucht gave to understand that a new bench of ldermen had to be put in place in Antwerp with all apossible speed. For De Gucht, Easter was the deadline. He felt that the idea of holding fresh municipal elections was a disastrous plan. According to the Liberal chairman, the considerable media coverage of the resignation of the Antwerp bench of aldermen and the conflict between Socialists and Liberals over the mayorship has done politics no good. There is an image of a rotten political system, whereas politicians have never been as clean as they are now, according to De Gucht. "In Antwerp the Vlaams Blok has sprung a trap, and we have all fallen into it," says De Gucht. At the VLD party conference in Antwerp, Guy Verhofstadt reiterated that the crisis in Antwerp could not drag on any longer. "Serious politicians must take the situation in hand instead of leading the city towards the Vlaams Blok like a lamb to the slaughter," Verhofstadt said. The chairman of the VLD's Antwerp branch Ludo Van Campenhout recognises that his party is suffering loss of face, but concludes that maintaining the stalemate would have resulted in even greater damage for Antwerp. In exchange for the mayorship, a Bureau for Integrity is being set up, as had been called for by the VLD. The VLD alderman for security is also to be given a more wide-ranging area of competency and at the VLD's request there will also be a crisis manager who will manage the administration. Interior Minister Paul Van Grembergen (Spirit) was also in Antwerp on 31 March. He has to examine the possibility of the appointment of a crisis manager and a remuneration of senior civil servants that is more in line with the going rate on the market. Bart Brinckman - De Standaard - 1 April Janssens, who is now in charge with forming the new bench of aldermen, is expecting a twofold task. Firstly the negotiations on the future city policy have to be completed. Next the future mayor has to set out the chalk lines for the new bench of aldermen. It looks as if little has changed in the assigned competencies. But the SP.A, VLD and CD&V are calling for strong personalities. The aldermen who resigned cannot all automatically join the administration again. The Flemish minister for the Interior Paul Van Grembergen (Spirit) talked to the four coalition partners about the technical difficulties that had arisen during the negotiations on the city policy. These sticking points include the remuneration of the finance inspectorate to be set up. The statutory framework for the possible appointment of a crisis manager also came up. For the VLD, the appointment of a crisis manager, in addition to the statutory function of city secretary, is not only an absolute condition but also a palliative. He will have to bring Antwerp's hobbling administration back to a gallop. In this respect port manager Eddy Bruyninckx is again in the picture. He would be prepared to switch over - a gesture that the VLD would very greatly appreciate. This does not constitute a problem for the SP.A. On the first page of their memorandum on the city policy, the Socialists also advocate "an external senior manager" who "can support the bench on an interim basis and in consultation with the Flemish Government". Van Grembergen is currently looking into whether it is possible to fit in such a crisis manager under the provisions of the current Local Government Act. A second VLD demand focuses on the post of security alderman. This position will be fleshed out somewhat so that the mandatory can operate "in a fully-fledged manner". According to the SP.A, this is a matter of a few "minor changes". The party defends the principle of the security alderman and wants to guarantee him as large a sphere of action as possible "within the rules of the law". The alderman will be able to create a stronger profile for himself in the future. On Friday the various party conferences will pronounce on the new mayor, the bench and the addendum on the city policy that the negotiators want to add to the ancient policy agreement and the master plan for the city. After the Easter holiday, a council meeting will be able to finalise the appointment procedure. Opinion Stefaan Huysentruyt - De Financieel-Economische Tijd - 1 April The end of the political crisis in Antwerp appears to be in sight. The governing majority has the Vlaams Blok to thank for both the crisis and the resolution of it. This party revealed the genuinely lavish use of city Visa credit cards by a number of aldermen, which led directly to the collective resignation of Antwerp's blundering bench of aldermen. And the fear of a further electoral surge for the Blok prompted the parties of the Antwerp coalition to break through the impasse. Both the VLD and the SP.A have gambled heavily in the Antwerp affair over the past few weeks. The VLD thought that it would be able to use the crisis to put a VLD member in the mayor's seat and lever the Greens out of the coalition. Neither of the two objectives was achieved. More than that, the high-handed attitude adopted by the national VLD leadership means that its relationship with its Antwerp branch will most probably never be made good again. For the SP.A, the crisis should have led to an advancement of the SP.A script that had already been mapped out in 2000. According to that scenario, Leona Detiège would be succeeded as mayor halfway through the term of office by Patrick Janssens. Difficult and risky tactical moves were necessary for this, but it looks as though that objective has been achieved. Compared with the VLD, the SP.A undoubtedly emerges from the crisis as the winner. But compared with the Vlaams Blok, both parties are losers. Liberals and Socialists are now hoping that voters will have forgotten their political exploits in Antwerp by 18 May. But it is unlikely that most voters will have such short memories. DID THE VLD'S ABOUT-TURN IN ANTWERP COME TOO SOON? On 31 March the local Antwerp VLD section announced that it would be backing the candidacy of the SP.A's Patrick Janssens for mayor of Antwerp. A week earlier the VLD was still saying that the SP.A did not have the credibility to provide the mayor. The impasse had to be broken, if the city was not to be handed over on a plate to the Vlaams Blok, according to the message given by strong man Guy Verhofstadt. When the chairman of the VLD's Antwerp branch Ludo Van Campenhout announced the following day that he was supporting Janssens' candidacy, he said he was doing so in the interests of Antwerp. The about-turn did indeed come very quickly, and the spoils for the VLD were unimpressive. But the national party leadership felt than Van Campenhout had thrown in the towel far too soon. The VLD city councillor and entrepreneur Christian Leysen had already announced that he would resign the moment Janssens actually became mayor. In his view, a Socialist mayor cannot implement the "break in the trend" that is required. Kurt Tuerlinckx - Gazet van Antwerpen - 2 April It is not the first time that the VLD at national level has come into conflict with its Antwerp branch. The relationship had already soured in this crisis when Leo Delwaide's candidacy for the post of mayor was rebutted by VLD chairman Karel De Gucht, Minister-President Patrick Dewael and Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. It has emerged from VLD circles in Brussels that the Liberal leadership only wanted to continue to drive home the stalemate in order to wrest additional compensation from the SP.A. The Antwerp branch decided otherwise, in the interest of the city. The VLD's national leadership is now exerting heavy pressure on Van Campenhout, and this has even included threats of him being removed from the third place on the parliamentary list. Among Antwerp's Liberals there is a growing aversion to the meddling from the Melsenstraat in Brussels (the VLD headquarters, ed.). They are trying to shift their own failings onto Van Campenhout's shoulders, said one VLD member. The SP.A, VLD, CD&V and Agalev negotiators reached an agreement on Tuesday (1 April) on the memorandum on the fight against corruption in Antwerp. The VLD was given the guarantees for the security alderman, the Bureau for Integrity, and the abandoning of the parliamentary seat of of Patrick Janssens, as soon as he becomes mayor. WAVE OF SMEARS IN THE PROVINCE OF ANTWERP After the fraud in the administration of the city of Antwerp and the "injudicious use" of VISA credit cards by a number of Antwerp aldermen, last week saw a surge of fresh findings of cases of fraud and corruption, whether or not correct. It looked as though this was going to be the beginning of a new wave of insinuations and smears. Mayor Somers (VLD) of Mechelen, who meddled in the Antwerp crisis as candidate heading the list in the Antwerp constituency, got tit for tat from his OCMW chairman Backx (formerly of CD&V), who accused him of having entrusted the firm Slangen & Partners with an image campaign for his city without having followed the accepted procedure, and having organised an extremely expensive team-building weekend in Knokke for his bench of aldermen. Somers called the accusations slander and nonsense, but had to take heavy criticism from his CD&V coalition partner on account of remarks in his book on the blurring of standards and norms that the previous coalition in Mechelen - of which the CD&V had been a member - had perpetrated. A few days later a VLD provincial council member disclosed a number of anonymous complaints about malpractice at the inter-municipal company Cipal, the Centre for Informatics for the Provinces of Antwerp and Limburg. Detectives were in the first instance looking into a case of trafficking of humans in which at least one Cipal officer was allegedly involved. The man in question confessed that he was indeed involved in the trading of Moldavian women and was promptly dismissed by Cipal chairman Stijnen. The other case centres on a number of senior Cipal officers who had allegedly feathered their own nests with Cipal money. For the time being nobody has been placed under suspicion. Coincidence or not: Patrick Janssens, the new mayor of Antwerp, was deputy chairman of Cipal. Former chairman Ludo Helsen (CD&V) is talking of an orchestrated attack on the inter-municipal company. ----------------- ELECTIONS ---------------- VLD PLAYS VERHOFSTADT TRUMP CARD AT PARTY CONFERENCE The Liberals celebrated their 2-day electoral conference in Antwerp's municipal theatre. On Saturday the sixty proposals that Verhofstadt had worked out in his "open letter to the citizen" were pondered over and weighed up. The proposals were adapted or fine-tuned here and there. But the main theme, a new tax cut in the following government, was not disputed. People in VLD circles are convinced that the "purple-green" coalition has notched up a fine record. With an easing of the tax and premium burden for companies, a tax cut for individuals and a budget that has kept out of the red, the party has more than kept its election promises, it says. Verhofstadt is ready to do even better, but it was not clear from his conference speeches as to which coalition partners he wants to join forces with. First win the elections, is the message. Bart Eeckhout - De Morgen - 31 March More than gratitude for tax cuts, the Flemish Liberals are relying on the bonus statesman factor that Verhofstadt will give them in order to win the elections on 18 May. The international tension, with the war in Iraq, has played into the Prime Minister's hands, offering him a chance to take maximum advantage of this bonus. Verhofstadt devoted more than half of his speaking time to the conflict in Mesopotamia, and admitted that he had been genuinely deeply disappointed that the international community had not been able to avert the war. He again repeated his call for a unified European army. "The lack of military might is leading Europe to impotence. The excess of military strength is leading America to isolation". Coalition partner Agalev received a smack on the bottom. All that to-do about the transportation of weapons should now stop once and for all, Verhofstadt feels. "Any plane that lands in Ostend can also land in Luxembourg or Prague. Any plane that flies over Belgium can also fly over the Netherlands." It was not the only slap in the face that the Green coalition partner was to receive. The entire VLD leadership was happy to use the well-known conference trick of getting their own grassroots worked up by railing against the competition, and here the Greens were the scapegoat. Flemish Minister-President Patrick Dewael had it in for Agalev, which he accused of "distrusting companies and people". Party chairman De Gucht swept the party's direct rival CD&V into a heap as "a lot of sheep and no wool". However, it was striking that the VLD also looked at coalition partner SP.A with some envy. Moreover, through the brand new party chairman Steve Stevaert, the SP.A is now venturing onto the terrain of the self-employed and the hotel, restaurant and catering sector - very much a Liberal stamping ground. Verhofstadt showed himself to be satisfied because the SP.A had now also discovered tax cuts and family-friendly housing. "But they can still learn a lot. The original is always better than the copy," he added. STEVAERT PRESENTS SOCIALIST TAX CUT The SP.A also met in Antwerp last weekend to approve its election manifesto. The party leadership has undergone a metamorphosis over the last few weeks, on account of the numerous staff changes in the upper echelons of the party. Patrick Janssens made way for Steve Stevaert as chairman of the party, and himself took over from Leona Detiège as mayor of Antwerp. Detiège's daughter, Maya, is first follow-up candidate on the parliamentary list and replaces the candidate heading the list, Janssens, in the House. Gilbert Bossuyt replaces Stevaert as transport minister, and current minister for employment Renaat Landuyt replaces Stevaert as the number two in the Government of Flanders - the Deputy Minister-President. For that matter, Stevaert's chairmanship still had to be ratified by the party conference. This duly occurred with a "Stalinist" majority of 97.6%. Stevaert had introduced a heart-warming moment for former mayor Leona Detiège, who had to make way for her party colleague Janssens. For the Liberals, he had a tax surprise up his sleeve. Walter Pauli/Bart Eeckhout - De Morgen - 31 March At the party conference Steve Stevaert stood on Liberal toes by turning "fewer taxes" into the new Socialist showpiece. At their own conference the VLD reacted with some considerable pique at this "late conversion". Stevaert himself talks of "Operation Small Change": taxes can only be cut on the condition that collection is better organised and that a firmer approach is adopted to combating the tax fraud that runs to EUR 20 billion a year. So, more elbow room for the tax inspection department, which can call on private tax experts to help it in its work. But the way in which taxation is divided up also needs to be changed. For example, Stevaert wants to raise the tax-free threshold, and wants to get rid of silly and unfair taxes, such as that on mortgage credits. He also wants to see an end to the existing tax rebate for mortgage loans. In exchange, Stevaert wants to introduce the "house bonus", granted to anyone buying or building a house and which will amount to between EUR 2,000 and 2,500 for ten years, irrespective of the size of the house. Stevaert also wants a generalised VAT rate of 6% for the hotel, restaurant and catering sector, with strict control. He also wants to talk about a lower, simpler but more easily collectable tax system for companies. Stevaert already has a socialist minister ready to carry out this tax programme: Johan Vande Lanotte, who would have to combine budget and tax matters. SP.A-SPIRIT AND VLAAMS BLOK WINNERS IN LLB POLL FF editorial staff In the quarterly poll carried out by La Libre Belgique, the SP.A-Spirit alliance emerges as the big winner, along with the Vlaams Blok. The alliance posts a gain of no less than 5.2%, bringing its rating to 20.2%. The Vlaams Blok gains 2.1% and stands on 17.4%. The VLD just remains the largest party in Flanders with 22.3%, although it has to concede 0.3% vis-à-vis the 1999 elections. The CD&V also loses ground (- 0.1%) in respect of 1999, and founders on 22.1%. The Greens lose one and half percentage points and fall below the psychological threshold of 10%, to 9.5%. With 4.7%, the Flemish-Nationalists of N-VA do not quite make the 5% electoral threshold. Guy Verhofstadt remains the most popular politician, ahead of Steve Stevaert and Jean-Luc Dehaene. The right-wing VLD dissident Ward Beysen only manages to chalk up 0.3% with his Liberal Appeal list. The poll was conducted between 5 and 15 March, i.e., in the middle of the "Antwerp crisis", and has the reputation of being quite reliable (margin of error: 2.25%, and only 13% of interviewees undecided). -------------------------------------------- ARMS TRANSPORT OPERATIONS -------------------------------------------- MP PETER VANHOUTTE NO LONGER SUPPORTS GOVERNMENT AND PARTY FF editor According to Prime Minister Verhofstadt (VLD) there is indeed an agreement with the Americans that allows the transport of ordnance to and from the American army bases in Germany over Belgian territory. Verhofstadt was replying to the criticism expressed in the House by opposition member Pieter De Crem (CD&V), who claimed that according to a treaty dating from 1971 these transport operations could only be carried out within the framework of NATO. There is also an agreement dated 4 September 2000, which clearly states that American transport flights are allowed regardless of whether they are effected within or outside the NATO framework, according to a staff member of Verhofstadt's office in De Morgen (29 March). The Belgian Government did not have to give permission for this, since "a climate of international tension" has prevailed since 11 September 2001. On 26 March the government's inner cabinet decided to begin talks on the adaptation of these agreements. But for Agalev MP Peter Vanhoutte, the position of the government and of his party in the government is no longer defensible. He feels that the government is putting parliament out of action and, after an incident with his parliamentary party leader Joos Wauters, is refusing to take part in the voting in parliament. Wauters feels that Vanhoutte's decision ten days before parliament is dissolved does not come across as being very credible. -------------------- EMPLOYMENT -------------------- UNEMPLOYMENT ALREADY STANDS AT 7.17% OF THE FLEMISH LABOUR FORCE FF editorial staff Last month there were 15,379 more unemployed people looking for work in Flanders than in March of last year. However, in comparison with February the unemployment figures did fall somewhat. The total number of job seekers fell by 3,743 or 1.9%. In absolute figures, Flanders had 190,420 job seekers at the end of March. This is revealed in the monthly figures released by the Flemish Minister for Employment Renaat Landuyt (SP.A.) on 1 April. The category of unemployed people looking for work is larger than the number of job seekers entitled to benefit. The number of Flemish job seekers on benefit totalled 146,158 at the end of March. That is 14,725 more than in March 2002 - an increase of 11.2%. On an annual basis, the unemployment figure in Flanders rose from 6.59% to 7.16% of the labour force. Short-term unemployment, i.e., unemployment that lasts less than one year, rose on an annual basis by 8.8%, or by 9,729 job seekers, to 120.718. The group of people who have been seeking employment for between one and two years grew by 30.7%, or 7,711 job seekers, to 32,821 people. The number of job seekers older than 50 rose by 19.3%. The conspicuous rise among older unemployed people is partly the consequence of a change in the unemployment regulation. As a result of this, persons who are fully unemployed, entitled to benefit and are under the age of 58, must remain registered as job seekers. According to minister Landuyt's office, the rising figures are attributable to the economic downturn that began well over a year ago. --------------------------------------------------- FOCUS ON FLANDERS/FOCUS SUR LA FLANDRE/ FOKUS AUF FLANDERN editor in chief/éditeur en chef/Chefredakteur: Frank Vandecaveye e-mail: frank.vandecaveye@lannoo.be tel: 051/42.42.99 fax: 051/42.42.33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you want your e-mail address to be removed from the list, please reply with a request --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------