Frank Vandenbroucke: the silence of the Belgian media
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Health and emblematic figure of the SP, rebranded “Vooruit”, Frank Vandenbroucke keeps racking up scandals. The latest: Medista[1][2]. A real thriller featuring Mossad agents and Deloitte Consulting, in which Frank Vandenbroucke plays his favourite role: opacity and concealment. Despite the seriousness of the facts, the main Belgian media remain silent. Emeric wonders about this silence.
The revelations by Thierry Gadault and Philippe Engels, denouncing “ the omnipotence and inefficiency of consultancy firms – here, Deloitte – combined with the manoeuvres of the authorities and of a senior civil servant ”, seriously tarnish the Belgian government’s handling of the Covid crisis. Blast’s investigation – Spies in Covid[3] – starring Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke, is an extraordinary series that should be on the front page of every newspaper in the Low Country. Expired vaccines, manipulations and videos, Israeli spies, a rigged medical logistics business for Ukraine… It is so huge that the authors, from the introduction of their first article, are taking bets on soon seeing the epic story on Netflix!
And yet… Nothing! A few decomposed scraps barely float on the mainstream currents; the story has run aground entirely off our borders, on little-frequented beaches. While the sheer scale of the investigation is enough to surprise many, I for one am above all baffled to discover this void. How can it be explained?
Blast’s articles make the same observation, “ […] that the country’s main French-language newspapers did the bare minimum on this story. And that no one really followed up and launched investigations ”, and, as the story unfolds, offer hypotheses to explain this state of affairs.
Last December, Minister VDB called an urgent press conference at which journalists were asked to switch off their mobile phones. He reportedly forbade the Walloon press from asking questions about the Medista affair. That could be one explanation: the Belgian press depends on public subsidies. But it would not be the first scandal to get newsrooms boiling! Or have our journalists run out of steam?! Kazakhgate, Samusocial, Nethys, the Court Clerk affair, Qatargate… An older one: Agusta – it rhymes with Medista! A headline suggestion? “ Mr Vandenbroucke, may we burn expired vaccines? ”. Come on, off you go!
Second hypothesis: a lack of bite. A subject too hard to sum up on a front page. “ Because the key figure in this crazy story is a major pillar of the coalition that painfully unites the left, the right, the Greens and part of the centrists in the face of the separatist and extremist threat. Because he is a Fleming accused of favouring a French firm. And because the principles at stake are highly symbolic: transparency, honesty, respect for institutions ”. The Macron-land syndrome: the French voted against Marine Le Pen by electing their president, and our Belgian journalists are taking sides on our behalf. Better that (and therefore let it slide while looking the other way) than give (yet again!) ammunition to the N-VA (MP Kathleen Depoorter is going on the offensive) or to Vlaams Belang. Thanks, guys, for choosing between the plague and cholera for us. And welcome to hell! This obvious lack of courage and imagination therefore locks us into a (pseudo-)binary model in which the only options left are servitude with or without dignity – a dignity which, like much else, will need to be redefined.
Frank, however, is not only a major pillar of the coalition, he is also a pillar of our country’s Covid narrative. Expired vaccines?! What a story! No, no, wait, there’s a problem: let me remind you that there is no world between that of indisputable crisis measures and the conspiracy-minded far-right sphere! And that no mainstream media outlet is so far willing to make a mea culpa. Let us therefore invite their representatives to (re?)read the column by Alexander Neubacher (head of the Opinion & Debate section of Spiegel): Wir Coronaversager[4] (which could be translated from German as We Corona failures), from 2023. Inspiring, isn’t it?! But I digress… Or not. There is no more fertile ground for conspiracy theories than the desert; the anaesthesia administered to Covid subjects – a serious updated study of the positive and negative effects of vaccination (we were stuffed with Sciensano figures during the crisis!), putting into perspective the sums received from the pharmaceutical industry by our TV-studio regulars (“ experts ”), clarity about the missions carried out by consultancy firms (like McKinsey in France, the same ones who built our Pacte d’Excellence?!), SMS Gate (or Ursula Gate, like the title of Frédéric Baldan’s forthcoming book), the global Pandemic Agreement[5] (Jutta Pinzler and Tatjana Mischke made an excellent ARTE documentary in 2017, “ WHO: in the grip of the lobbyists? ”),… – is damning. Suspicious at the very least. These silences, these things left unsaid, are the milestones on the highway of thought. I have no doubt it is paved with good intentions! The destination is coming into view, and it is not a happy one…
Emeric
The opinions expressed in this op-ed are solely those of its author and do not necessarily reflect those of BAM!
Introduction and illustration by BAM!
[1] BAM! News - Go on, Franky, it’s fine!!! (in French)
[2] BAM! News - Whistleblower #6 - Frank Vandenbroucke - Medista (in French)
[3] Des espions dans le Covid | Dossier
[4] Verbote in der Corona‑Pandemie: Wir Corona‑Versager – Kolumne - DER SPIEGEL