Belgium: Flemish Socialist Party president resigns after accusations of racism
It's a huge surprise in the Flemish political landscape: Conner Rousseau is resigning. The young president of the Dutch-speaking Socialist Party has decided to throw in the towel following accusations of racism. Sentenced to a symbolic sentence, he preferred to resign even though his party supported him, and he had just been appointed head of the list for the legislative elections next May.
The leader of the Flemish SP (Vooruit), Conner Rousseau, speaks at a press conference in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, October 5, 2023. © NICOLAS MAETERLINCK / AFP
By: RFI Follow
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With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet
At the age of 26, Conner Rousseau became president of the Flemish Socialist Party in 2019, enjoying a real popularity that allowed him to reform the party in depth and rename it Vooruit, ("forward").
But he was eventually caught up by controversy and then by the courts. During a drunken party two months ago, he made disparaging remarks about Roma people, and was then targeted in September by a complaint from a Roma association for what he deemed racist.
To avoid a trial, he has agreed to a deal with the prosecutor's office: he will have to undergo therapy, to become aware of the "impact of words" according to his words quoted by the Belga agency, and will have to go to a barracks in the city of Mechelen, a place of memory of the deportation of Jews from Belgium.
« I made a mistake »
He finally decided to throw in the towel on Friday. "I gave it my best, I made a mistake, I'm taking everything on myself. I take responsibility. It's a shame that it ends like this, but there you go. I hope that calm can return and that we can get back to basics: better pay for workers, break with stagnation, give people the care they need, and finally get our country back on track " he declared, seven months before the general elections to be held in June in Belgium.
Conner Rousseau's comments about the Roma had brought out other accusations of misogyny and sexism, as well as another accusation of racism. He said he "didn't feel like he was in Belgium" in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, where many Muslims live.
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