Willem de Graaf, after having some short rest to recover from the campaigning and failed negotiations, finally showed up in the Chamber of Deputies and, after having a shor discussion with some of his colleagues and the newly appointed Deputy Leader, headed right to the speaker's stand:
Ladies and gentlemen of the Chamber,
A few days ago, Regalist Union, now encompassing all post-Beauffortists and reactionaries alike, formed the new cabinet. Alexandre de Lannoy keeps repeating fancy words like “technocratic” and “meritocratic”, showing little to no understanding of democratic governance and politics, so typical for Beauffortist Right. Yet, this is no surprise to anyone who is concerned about the recent development of Belgian politics – let’s not waste our time with lecturing those who despise democracy, as I doubt some people could ever wake up from the feudal times of the previous centuries. Instead, we shall take a look at the “technocratic” cabinet itself. I surely wonder what experience or knowledge can the most esteemed citizen van de Werve bring to the resort of War, perhaps except for his father’s experience of overthrowing legitimate governments and dictatorial rule. The simple fact of having such a figure in executive in less than 30 years since Beauffort’s illegal and illegitimate coup is a disgusting slap to the faces of all democratically thinking Belgians.
Yet, we have more. The ministry of Interior, responsible for “state security” and police work is controlled by another well known Beauffortist, therefore putting all Belgian armed forces under control of 2 very suspicious people. Marechal Harfleur’s deeds during the revolution and Convention may have been for the good of Belgium, but the treason of 1864 can’t be forgotten nor forgiven. And as for the appointment of an Archbishop to the ministry of Labour... This is just ridiculous. Mr. Lannoy, how can you possibly call your cabinet “technocratic”, when this man has clearly NO single experience with the world of labour and spent his entire life being fed by the Belgian state at the expense of our taxpayers? I do not dispute the importance of faith in our lives, but the times when Church could run the states are gone, and they are not coming back. We could have both had our disagreements with De Leeuw’s stances on many things, but at least he knew what a goddamn factory looks like from the inside, Mr. Prime Minister. The same thing applies to citizen Van de Velde as the minister of Justice – I have to admit that having a well known reactionary as the minister of Justice – while incredibly absurd – is better than having him at the Ministry of Education, but knowing that this man now bears the responsibility for all the reform agenda is worrisome.
Yet, it’s the cabinet of Pierre Savarin that is being insulted as “full of amateurs”. The only “experience” we lacked is how to perpetrate an anti-democratic coup, that’s about all.
I certainly do not wish to sabotage government’s efforts in Congo, but I strongly advise against Martial Law. Belgian settlers in Congo need to be protected, not restrained by a direct military rule. Savarin’s government and my ministry in particular made sure that the rights of our colonists are secured, but now, the open calls for Martial Law are discouraging Belgians from moving to our overseas territories. The army under Gen. Thaddeé can certainly handle the crisis even without Martial Law and all the damage to our colonists. Bear in mind that Belgian state needs to protect our people in the colonies first, and any irrational action may damage the fragile environment in the colonies and cause incredible economical damage. Yet, Prime Minister’s fiery anti-capitalist rhetoric gives us all a clue that the well-being of Belgian economy is certainly much lesser of a problem than flexing his muscles with nonsensical calls for Martial Law in the colonies.
And finally, I have to say that Moderate Liberal party disappointed me to no end. I always considered MLP, the party my father led, as the liberal brother to NDP, and while we may have differed in some issues, we were always joined by our social and economical views. Yet, instead of a strong liberal rule, MLP chose to subdue itself to Beauffortist right. Seeing the prominent liberal figures like Mijnheer Van Brabant and Mijnheer Van der Wyngaert, whose father was apparently a good friend and colleague to my father, saddens me. I therefore wish to ask all true liberals in the new cabinet to protest against the rise of Neo-Beauffortism and Beauffortism in our right wing, and if needed to resign from their ministries, as I believe those gentlemen would rather leave the office with a clear conscience than to support the return of some new Beauffort sometime later. The democracy in Belgium is at stake once again, and all democratic forces need to stand united against those who wish to destroy it. My family and many others suffered during Beauffort’s coup; I will not allow to see Belgium fall into violence and darkness again.
Thank you for your attention gentlemen, that’s all for now. I hope that reason and freedom shall prevail, no matter how much do some of us here despise those values.