CdH OFFICIAL ON PARTY PHILOSOPHY AND ITS CHANCES IN THE

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