January is the month of New Year's receptions. You have no doubt already had several of these. We exchange kisses and good wishes, and words of hope, full of anticipation for what the year will bring.
I made a resolution this year to let myself be less consumed by Instagram's algorithms, but little came of that good intention: I find myself scrolling late into the night through videos of masked ICE troops terrorising the population, dragging people away from their families or work, or a woman being deliberately shot with impunity.
Cheers, salud, we laugh and toast to the new year. This year is difficult.
Is the Trump administration really using Nazi slogans unashamedly? Are they still going to invade Greenland and shake NATO? In the evenings, my daughter can't sleep because she fears war. I try to soothe her by saying that humanity has learned from World War II, that we are now working together because never again. No more war. I hear my own words falter.
This month, I had around twenty New Year's receptions in my diary. I often have to give speeches at these, but this year I found it difficult to find an uplifting message.
Gaza, Iran, Sudan. I understand very well that people shield themselves from the news, retreat into their armchairs, because it is too much, too cruel, it hits us to the bone.
It touches us to the core. I used to find that a strange, harsh expression. But anyone who has experienced deep sorrow knows how grief, loss, and fear can nestle deep within your body and muscles. More and more people are feeling it.
And while the world is ablaze, we in Brussels are fighting yet another round of government formation.
Now DO NOT shirk your responsibility, dear friends, that is culpable neglect.
Especially now, we should be able to offer hope, stability, solutions, and security.
We are in the midst of a transition, not a rupture. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a brilliant speech in Davos that will go down in history.
How will we be remembered here in Brussels?
Socialists take responsibility, especially in difficult times. It's in our DNA. We work incredibly hard, we dare to make tough decisions, because just standing on the sidelines shouting is simply not an option for us.
Look at the Arizona government. Being a part of it is anything but straightforward, but we are punching well above our weight and providing certainty in uncertain times.
I was really embarrassed and angry on Monday that Open VLD - Anders- did not even come to the table.
We've been negotiating for almost 600 days and… they’re not bothering to show up.
Oh blast it, “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”
People are sleeping on the streets, our neighbourhoods are plagued by too much drugs and violence, we urgently need to help more people find work, our young people need teachers, and more and more associations are becoming demotivated by the lack of prospects, uncertainty is exhausting.
And then, after all these months, there are finally very concrete, far-reaching plans on the table to not only make Brussels financially sound, but also to govern it better and more efficiently.
And not showing up at the table is... cowardly.
The international world order is faltering.
But Brussels is also faltering.
We are gambling with the future of this Region, when we really cannot afford chaos.
If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. A a fitting quote from Mark Carney.
If we cannot negotiate an agreement at the table, then we are letting our beloved city fall hard and deep. And I know there is no point in pointing fingers at this party or that one; many of us have played a role in this deadlock.
But really, as Frederic De Gucht suggested, we don't need more ego, we need less. Because any politician who is still primarily concerned with themselves is letting the people of Brussels down very badly.
Is there really nothing left to celebrate?
Yes, certainly, we are allowed to bullies, The bullies, don't let them win!
On my New Year's card it says: “You make the city light up”. And that's true.
Brussels is all about resilience, it's a city where people build a whole life from nothing, every single day, getting back up and carrying on.
Brussels, that's solidarity, friendship, community. When I see how people in Minnesota are fighting back and organising against ICE, then I know: that would be the same here.
I am still often genuinely moved by the people in this city. And I'm not just talking about the many social and cultural organisations that truly keep this city going, from handing out food to saving a park, but about small gestures: two elderly women of African origin, beautifully dressed up, right down to their hats, who carefully and gracefully step out of a taxi on Christmas Eve, supporting each other. People who collectively stand up and offer their seats on the crowded metro to a woman feeling faint. The young people who went out on January 1st to clean up the streets of Molenbeek and surprised the Flemish press so much that they wrote that New Year's Eve in Brussels went better than in Antwerp.
Glimmers of hope. Wherever you look, in the soul of this city, there are so many glimmers of hope.
I would like to sincerely thank everyone who continues to commit themselves to this city and its people, everyone who continues to believe in it, and everyone who works on building community every day.
Thank you. You people keep the city going.
And so YES I still believe in it, and I will keep fighting for it every day: a decisive Brussels government will come soon. It simply HAS to.
Happy New Year.
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