Senator Anne Delvaux, former RTBF presenter (Belgium’s Francophone public service TV) heads the European list for CDH, the Centre Democrate Humaniste party. Although Delvaux has indicated she will sit in the European Parliament if elected, she will be replaced by her substitute if at any time during the 5 year term, she has ‘other choices’.
Regarded as a ‘centrist’ party, CDH is the 4th most popular party in Bruxelles and in Wallonia, garnering between 14 – 15 per cent of the vote. It currently has one MEP, and sits with the EPP-ED political family in the European Parliament.
Delvaux’s substitute is deputy Director-General of Medecins Sans Frontieres, a medical doctor specialising in Tropical Medicine. 
Georges Dallemagne was born in Congo and has spent much of his life working for humanitarian aid and public health programmes for the European Commission (in Rwanda, Balkans, Angola) and intervening in crisis situations in far-flung areas of the world hit by war, earthquakes and emergency refugee situations. As director of Handicap International, he lobbied to get the EU to agree to ban anti-personnel mines, leading to the signing of a global agreement, the Ottawa or Mine-Ban Treaty in 1997.
In politics for the past 10 years, Dallemagne has been a Senator and deputy mayor of Brussels City. Now a member of the Chamber / House of Representatives, he is vice-chair of the Foreign Affairs committee. He lives in Woluwe-St-Pierre and has 4 daughters.
Read the CDH manifesto for the European elections (FR) http://www.lecdh.be/sites/default/files/images/Programme-Europe.pdf
How important is the expat vote for you?
It should be very important, but what we’ve seen is that there are not many Europeans who are interested in voting here on 7 June. We have tried to get them involved in the elections, but we see that they are not very interested. We also asked every section to contact the European people living in their commune to remind them they can vote, and they need to get themselves on the electoral list. This was the CDH message from HQ to the CDH representatives in every commune, to approach and make contact with the Europeans in their area, to encourage them to vote.
It was not systematic – because we didn’t have the list of who those people were at the time. The personal contact was not all-encompassing, because at the time that this was done, the electoral lists weren’t completed.
Voters will now receive documents that we’re sending to everyone in the French-speaking part of the country. So, we will have a systematic message in every mail box of every resident in Belgium, explaining the CDH programme. We now have the list of electors per commune, and it will depend on the candidate to select certain people or nationalities to specifically target if they want to send them a specific message. If candidates have a special relationship with Spanish or Portuguese for example, they will select them from the list, and will send them a specific message.
We don’t have the list of voters in the entire country, we have them by commune and it’s a difficult job. I don’t see any candidate going through the 2 or 3 million voters and trying to select all the French people or Irish people. I don’t see that happening, or easily feasible. That would be very costly.
I’ve tried to target the expat vote myself through personal contacts, by networking. I remind people I know that they can vote for me, by email, and in my commune, and via contacts in the European Commission. I know Dutch, French, Spanish people working in the Commission, and I try to convince them to vote. But again, I see most of them are not registered to vote. Many in my commune Woluwe St Pierre will not be voting in Belgium. Some of them say they are voting in their home country, some of them will not vote.
Position of CDH in Belgian’s political spectrum
CDH is the former Christian Democrat party in Belgium. For the past six years, it decided to remain a centrist party, but replace Christian with a ‘Humanist’ reference. Taking into account that society has evolved, we would like to welcome anyone with any philosophical or religious outlook…from atheists to Jews, those with the values of respect for others, and respect for human dignity. Those are our core values. We also share some values like liberty, equality between people. Our core values are the dignity of every human being and solidarity between everyone.
On the political scene in Belgium, we are a centrist party. People put us centre left and centre right, but we share social concerns. We think the economy should serve social purposes. We have special concern for those in fragile situations, but I don’t see the right-left scale is relevant to my actions. I’ve always been interested in human dignity – with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) that was my red line, my main concern. I have difficulties in putting myself on the left / right scale.
As regards other parties, Ecolo focus mainly on environment, climate change and the Socialists PS for me are concerned with the fight between classes – they still believe that the society is divided along class structures and they fight against class system. I don’t think society is organised like that. I prefer to fight for common goals and shared values and shared priorities. I don’t consider that people have to fight against each other to find good prospects for society. I don’t believe it’s a good way to consider political action.
Most importantly, I see the liberals and socialists as very much materialistic parties. They focus on money issues. We believe society should take into account many other issues like the situation of the family, the situation of old people, children’s’ education issues and so on.
What are the CDH priorities for Europe?
We are concerned that there is a return toward internal decision making processes. We want to get a Europe to work again on common decisions and common strategies. We are concerned by the fact that some Member States are trying to provide protectionist measures to protect their domestic market. We really need common strategies on financial regulation. The European level is the perfect level to regulate the economy and the financial markets, so it’s important to co-ordinate Member States strategies and that they inspire the strategies. We also have to recognise that UK, France and Germany have different ideas, and are not pushing for a common strategy very much
We very much hope that Ireland and other countries will give us a new Treaty. It will be a major step to get a dynamic Europe again working together on domestic and international issues. The Lisbon Treaty would not solve everything, but it would provide tools and also psychologically a new perspective – it would be good news for Europe to have this new Treaty. And I hope it will provide the political will to go further and create common strategies and common policies for the financial crisis.
What are the CDH priorities for Brussels?
We want to have a capital where people from many different origins can work together in a way that they respect each other and share the same values. And that they get education, get jobs.
Mobility is a big issue for Brussels – we need to accelerate the public transport network and what’s available. CDH proposes free public transport in Brussels. The Brussels government already subsidises transport tickets. We believe that there should be better choices in terms of public transport – in terms of quality, network, frequency, cleanliness. We are a capital where people use mostly their cars and we have to change that, initially by providing better public transport that’s free for users.
How do you propose better integrating the European expat community with Brussels / Belgian communities?
Those who only stay for 5 years, they will live amongst themselves, like many expats in other countries. But those who have decided to live in Belgium, I don’t see any problem of integration with the Bruxellois – they go in the same pub, go to the same movies, go to the same shops… I believe that those non-Belgians who have decided to stay here should have the opportunity to vote in the regional and federal elections.
I have many contacts with Europeans in my commune of Woluwe St. Pierre, as do my children, principally because I have a salary which allows me to live where the Europeans live.
The problem is not between the Belgians and the Europeans. The problem is between those who have money to live in good conditions, and those who have no money, or jobs or education. That’s the biggest issue for me.
What are your European credentials and why should I vote for you?
Most of my life I’ve been working at the European level. I’ve many contacts with the Commission and European NGOs, as a co-director of MSF. I’ve been to Srebrenica many times and lobbied European governments in 1993-95 to stop the war in the former Yugoslavia, prior to the NATO intervention.
With Handicap International, I fought to prevent anti-personnel mines in Cambodia, Iraq, Congo, and Afghanistan. I worked with colleagues in EU capitals to get an agreement between Member States, and then at the European level to definitively ban anti-personnel mines, and after that on a global level to create the Ottawa Treaty in 1998. I was involved in all that lobbying and the work on the ground with the de-mining team, and treating those injured by the mines. With MSF, I’ve worked with colleagues from many countries.
