ViA is the government’s working plan of the Pact 2020, which sets out goals in every sector of the region’s economic and social life, with the ultimate goal of placing Flanders in the top ranks of regions in Europe.

However, ViA has been criticised in recent weeks for having no clear aim, little concrete structure and nothing to inspire people. The complex changes taking place in the world, said Peeters, call for a co-ordinated response, which is just as complex. “That cannot be summed up in 140 characters on Twitter or 250 words in a press release,” he said. “That can only be contained in the 13 transitions that make up Flanders in Action.”

In response to press reports of divisions within his government, Peeters was keen to stress that the whole government is behind the programme, with each minister’s portfolio dependent on those of his or her colleagues. Industrial transformation can only succeed, he said, with the help of a targeted innovation policy, where talents are at work in the right place. Sustainable buildings and homes are impossible without renewable energy, and the fight against child poverty goes hand-in-hand with innovations in health care.

“Flanders in Action can’t be measured merely in the here and now,” Peeters continued. “Our action is a marathon; it requires a goal, a plan and the perseverance to realise that plan. It must not be a victim of the mood of the day. We are not thinking in terms of quotes in tomorrow’s papers, but in terms of headlines in 2020. And I have faith that the headline in 2020 will read ‘Flanders at the top in Europe’. Then we will see what our perseverance was for: for a Flanders where it is good to live, to do business and to invest, to work and to study, to care and to be cared for.”

Peeters ended with an appeal to those present to be inspired and to become an inspiration, quoting the words of US president Barack Obama in a speech to supporters in 2008: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

New face at the top

The government also announced the appointment of a new chair of ViA to replace Koen Geens, who is now federal finance minister. Koenraad Debackere is professor of technology and innovation management at the University of Leuven and managing director of the university’s administration and central services. He will, with the so-called Council of the Wise, oversee the practical management of ViA and Pact 2020 programmes until the end of the legislature next May.

“Koenraad – like me, like the whole Flemish government and like all the signatories of the Pact 2020 – is convinced that we are on the right track and that together we will reach our goal,” said Peeters. Debackere, he said, “is the man who will take ViA from the meeting room to the work floor”.

www.vlaandereninactie.be