Leader of Flemish Greens steps down after less than a year
Bart Dhondt is stepping down as leader of the Flemish Greens, the Groen party, he announced in a video on social media. Dhondt has been the leader of the Greens for less than a year. He had to revitalise the party after two disappointing elections, but never really succeeded.
In a video on social media, Bart Dhondt announced that he will be passing on the torch as leader of Groen. “Sometimes stepping aside is the best thing you can do for your party. That is what I am doing today,” he said.
Dhondt stated that he is proud of what he has achieved internally over the past year, but that the criticism of his invisibility in the political debate began to weigh on him. "My role in recent months has been mainly internal and I have been less visible in the media, which has taken on a life of its own in the press. In the long run, that threatens to become the only thing that matters, and I don't want that. That should not be a stumbling block for all the work we have done and still have to do."
"Sometimes stepping aside is the best thing you can do for your party"
As leader, Bart Dhondt steered the party back to its green roots after heavy defeats in last year's national and local elections. In the polls, the Flemish Greens continue to hover a few percentage points above the electoral threshold.
“The team has worked hard over the past year,” says Dhondt himself. “With strong opposition work, we show every day that things can be done differently. And our membership numbers are also rising again.”
"Someone new can make a fresh start and push Groen further up”
“When people ask me questions, they are about PFAS coming out of the tap. I get questions from teachers because their pensions are being taken away. People talk to me because they no longer receive renovation subsidies and about the air quality in their city. That's what it should be about: how we want to improve people's lives. Someone new can make a fresh start and push Groen further up.”
Dhondt was elected as the new party leader at the end of last year. He took over from the co-leaders Jeremie Vaneeckhout and Nadia Naji. The Groen party executive will now consider when new leadership elections will be organised.
With Dhondt's departure, the two green parties in Belgium are now temporarily leaderless. At the French-speaking Ecolo, the co-leaders Marie Lecocq and Samuel Cogolati resigned last month.
#FlandersNewsService | Bart Dhondt of the Flemish Greens, the Groen party © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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