ginovandewalle.com

The story continues. Since Pieter De Crem, Belgium’s Minister of Defense has been spotted in a New York bar while being drunk (click here to read my first post about him), and after his explanation in Belgian parliament where he declared bloggers as being dangerous species, he has not been out of the press in Belgium and the Netherlands. Even over here in Southern Portugal, my friends are asking me what’s happening with Belgian politics and their politicians. The biggest Belgian political crisis as far as I can remember in the 48 years of my existence having just ended in the beginning of this year (not that the Belgian government is doing a great job in leading the country), I now have to explain to my friends in Portugal how on earth it is possible that politicians who are lying about their behaviour are getting away with it.

I tell them that Crembo has made a couple of mistakes in his communication. He could have solved it in such a simple matter, had he taken some lessons from former and much more capable politicians. He could have taken a lesson from the late French President François Mitterrand (1916-1996) who only had to use two simple words to end the critics when it became publicly known that he had a daughter outside his marriage: “Et alors?”. Translated into English: “So What?”. These two words just did it!

Crembo could have said exactly the same thing in Dutch, after having been accused of the fact that he was drunk: “En dan?”. Or even in “Aalters”, the local language of the town in which he succeeded his father as mayor (believe me, I speak and understand “Aalters” as well - I was born over there!): “En tons?”.

Now don’t get me wrong. As I wrote a couple of days ago, it is not the fact that he was drunk in New York that causes the problems. He lied about the telephone call to the owner of the bar, causing directly or indirectly the fact that the Dutch lady lost her job. And he was not honest about his agenda with the meetings he was supposed to be having in New York. Though he once said that the public has the right to know the truth!

Having been professionally involved in training “Communication Skills” myself, he could have called me. Or I could at least have forwarded him to a couple of my former collegues (we have always remained good friends since I left the company) who still are experts in communication. It would have saved Crembo a lot of trouble.

On the other hand, it’s good amusement to see how his predecessor calls him “an asshole” as you can see in the clip below. André Flahaut, while being interviewed by the Belgian press agency “Belga” and broadcasted on Belgian television (RTBF) has never been a close friend of Crembo. Flahaut literally says: “Somebody who does and says things without thinking about them, is an asshole. I indeed said this, and I still believe this.”

As long as Flahaut was the Minister of Defense, Pieter De Crem was attacking Flahaut constantly!

It is a shame that politicians are acting like little children instead of doing their job the way they should be doing it. In private companies, this kind of behaviour is not accepted at all. I call this: “Kindergarten mentality”.

But apparently, politicians, just like bankers, are simply getting away with it…

Share on Facebook