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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBS #0583/01 1101555
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201555Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8844
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000583 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV BE
SUBJECT: CdH OFFICIAL ON PARTY PHILOSOPHY AND ITS CHANCES IN THE 
REGIONAL ELECTION 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The cdH is a center-left party that is the third 
largest in Wallonia and Brussels regions.  Formerly known as the 
Christian Democratic party, it puts an emphasis on values and on 
individual fulfillment as a major guide for decision making.  In the 
upcoming regional elections, the party is featuring education and a 
response to the economic crisis in its program.  According to 
Laurent de Briey, the director of its in-house think tank, the 
Center for Economic, Political and Social Studies, the cdH is likely 
to poll about the same number of votes as it did in 2004, between a 
weakened Socialist Party and a surging Ecolo group.  De Briey says 
the issue of division of power between the regions and federal 
government and international questions do not strongly influence 
voters in Wallonia.  He believes that the ambitions of Guy 
Verhofstadt to become Prime Minister are the greatest threat to 
survival of the current coalition government until the next 
scheduled elections in 2011.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On April 14, Poloff met with Laurent de Briey, director of 
the Center for Economic, Political and Social Studies, the in-house 
think tank and policy development center for the francophone 
political party, the Centre Democrate Humaniste (cdH).  The party is 
the third largest in the Wallonia and Brussels regions.  Until 2002, 
the party was known as the Christian Democratic party.  Poloff asked 
what the name change meant to the party, and de Briey explained that 
it corresponded to social and demographic changes in the 
French-speaking community, as many voters had become not especially 
religious.  Although Christian, mainly Catholic, voters are dominant 
among its supporters, the party wanted to be clear that its doors 
are open to others. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The average cdH voter is an employee in the Qnon-profit 
sector, including Qwhite collarQ government employees like teachers. 
 The party is competing with Ecolo for such voters.  While the cdH 
shares the socialist skepticism of unbridled capitalism, the 
Socialist Party tends to attract more Qblue collarQ government 
employees in sectors such as transport and is stronger in larger 
cities with significant immigrant populations. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The cdH is a center-left party, and participates in 
coalition governments as a partner with the Socialists in the 
Wallonia regional government and in many municipalities.  De Briey 
distinguished the cdH philosophy from the Socialists by saying that 
while the Socialists put emphasis on group social and economic 
engineering, the cdH emphasis is on QvaluesQ and individual rights 
and responsibilities.  Joelle Milquet is the partyQs public face and 
is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Equal 
Opportunities in the federal government.  She is second on the party 
list in the Brussels regional elections in June.  According to 
Milquet, the party prefers to use the term QcenterQ rather than 
QpartyQ to describe itself in order to emphasize that it stands 
outside the traditional definitions of left and right.  It is 
QdemocraticQ in its openness to all social groups and its desire for 
citizen involvement in decision making, for a consistent, not 
minimalist nor maximalist, state and for a dynamic but regulated 
market economy.  It is QhumanistQ in that it believes each personQs 
happiness is the political priority, surpassing the interests of the 
market, science and political power. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In the upcoming elections, the party has chosen to put 
education reform first on its platform but is also focusing on the 
economic crisis and sustainable development.  The party recently 
held a conference on the education issue, putting forth a number of 
concrete proposals in a lengthy policy document.  The party is proud 
of the steps it has taken since 2004 to open secondary education to 
students of all abilities and class origins.  Building on that, in a 
47 page manifesto it proposes detailed strategies for: 
 
¶A. Valuing the profession of teaching and strengthening the autonomy 
of teams of educators; 
¶B. Enhancing the quality of education and fighting against student 
failure; 
¶C. Offering a quality school to all students while fighting against 
dualization of students and schools; 
¶D. Transforming technical and vocational education into real options 
for studentQs futures; 
¶E. Improving the efficiency of schools for better governance; 
¶F. Enhancing the quality of life in schools; and, 
¶G. Developing the education of social workers. 
 
¶5. (SBU) To ameliorate the effects of the economic crisis, the party 
proposes to rejuvenate the economy through public investment, not 
only by stimulating consumption.  It would build housing, promote 
the creation of Qgreen jobsQ and improve services to the public. 
The last includes especially the aging population and young parents 
who would benefit from more places in nursery schools.  In general, 
de Briey says, the party wants to put service to the public first, 
through a better functioning state.  It also supports a more 
integrated Europe. 
 
 
BRUSSELS 00000583  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) De Briey handicapped the upcoming regional elections by 
saying that the Socialists will retain their first place position in 
Wallonia, but will lose support as the Ecolo party surges.  The 
Socialists suffer from disillusionment among the Walloon electorate 
over matters such as the problems at Fortis Bank.  Depending on the 
exact vote totals, the outcome of the election could be either a 
Mouvement Reformateur (MR) Q PS coalition or a PS-CdH-Ecolo 
grouping.  The former outcome is less likely, he believes, because 
of the philosophical differences between the parties, even though 
the MR and Socialists coexist in the federal government coalition. 
The worst result, from the point of view of the cdH and its future 
ability to gather votes, would be an MR-Ecolo majority coalition, 
although that is only an outside possibility. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Asked to comment on the role of the institutional division 
of powers among the regions and the federal government in the 
regional election, de Briey said it is not such an important issue. 
Francophone voters are mainly approaching the matter in reaction to 
Flemish dissatisfaction with the current regime.  At heart, he said, 
the problem is one of budgets.  Ultimately, he said, it will be more 
difficult for the regions to find a way to separate than to stay 
together.  He expects the regions to obtain a maximum of autonomy 
within a Belgian QshellQ. 
 
¶8. (SBU) At the federal level, de Briey sees the Open VLD as the 
main danger to the continued existence of the current coalition 
government.  As Guy Verhofstadt regains strength in the party, de 
Briey believes his supporters may want to bring down the government 
so that new elections would provide an opportunity for him to become 
prime minister at an early date.  International questions are not at 
the forefront of the votersQ minds either, he said.  Such matters 
are not decided so much at the regional, party level as at the level 
of the federal cabinet of ministers.  He said that the average cdH 
voter is certainly not a militarist, and does not see terrorism as a 
thing that affects Belgium specifically.  Like most European 
parties, the cdH is happy to see the arrival of the Obama 
Administration in Washington. 
 
BUSH