Fifth column: False notes
Flanders' politicians have suffered from a breakdown in communication on a sensitive topic
Anja Otte's take on the week in politics
But last week Crombez’s supporters fell silent when their hero said he supported the refugee plan of Dutch socialist party leader Diederik Samsom. That plan includes a quota for refugees coming into Europa of 250,000 and sending refugees arriving in Greece back to Turkey by ferry.
To Flemish socialists, great supporters of international solidarity, these proposals are unthinkable. Crombez’s words were even (wrongly) interpreted as support for push-backs: refusing to allow the shoddy boats in which refugees arrive to come ashore. What was their president thinking?
Crombez, it turned out, had simply not communicated his support for the plan effectively: His main point was that he wanted to keep people from drowning in the Mediterranean. But the damage was done.
Groen, SP.A’s competitor on the left, let it be known that Crombez was “even more right-wing than N-VA”. Crombez’ fellow party members were not amused, and the president faced a grilling during the traditional Monday morning meeting.
His statements also unfortunately coincided with another contested – and apparently misinterpreted – appeal by West Flanders’ governor. Carl Decaluwé (pictured) fears that the refugee camps in Calais and Duinkerke will spill over to the Belgian coast, with Zeebrugge harbour becoming an alternative for crossing the Channel to the UK.
To prevent this from happening, Decaluwé urged members of the public not to provide food to refugees wandering around the coast, as food distribution points could transform into campsites very quickly. It was a message that was heard as: “Do not feed the refugees”.
The incidents illustrate that all parties are grappling with the refugee crisis. N-VA would rather take a tough stance on the issue, but party members Theo Francken is secretary of state for asylum, responsible for dealing with the daily reality of housing the thousands of refugees who continue to arrive.
Decaluwé wants the coast to remain a tourist destination. Crombez wants to stop seeing people drowning at sea. But communication on these subjects has proven to be anything but easy.
