THE WET DREAM OF OPEN VLD POLITICIAN AND GOVERNOR OF EAST FLANDERS CARINA VAN CAUTER

Opinion - Carine Knapen

In terms of governance, the province of East Flanders has been an Open VLD bastion since 2004 ( ignoring for a moment the independent Jan Briers, 2013-2018 ). Between 1847 and now, with a few interruptions, the Liberals have held the scepter in East Flanders for 84 years. That adds up.

But, no Liberal has ever done what Carina Van Cauter does. She beats them all, by far. Indeed, immediately after taking office, Carina hired a company to translate her wet dream onto images and map out her idea of the future of East Flanders in 2050 for us, the citizens. How much the realization of her wet dream in the form of an animation film has costed is totally irrelevant. A negligible detail. Veneers are requested to shut up.

In Carina's wet dream, all the houses, businesses, streets, highways, or just about everything we know has disappeared. All that is left are concentrated residential compounds aka smart cities where people live and work and here and there some high-tech industry that mainly focuses on a circular economy. No more cars, just bikes, scooters, a bus or on foot. And, ah yes, canoeing on the river is also still a possibility. Very striking too: very few people, not that much agriculture, little of everything we citizens know today. But lots of greenery and a few trees here and there. The future of lawnmowers looks bright. There will be a lot of mowing to be done in 2050 so that the many green spaces look neat and tidy as in Carina's wet dream.

The fact that Carina's wet dream completely matches the plans of the WEF and our friend Klaus is purely coincidental. There is no connection, whatsoever, between one and the other. Sore-faced pundits who claim otherwise : there's the door !

Carina Van Cauter is a bzzzz.... busy bee because in addition to her wet dream promotional video published on Youtube a year ago, she has quietly continued working on a new policy plan for East Flanders for 2050, drafted in more understated terms, without concretely involving the municipalities and mayors she affectionately hosts under her blue wings in her wet dream plan. They were merely " informed". Giving them a say was a bridge too far. Even the mayors of the same persuasion as hers were apparently not involved in her wet dream plan.

The public enquiry was opened on 22 March 2023 but the blue train suddenly moved so slowly that the municipalities did not smell the smoke until June and now have to rush to file objections in time, by 19 July. In record time, the municipality of Lede has drafted a notice of objection that has all its merits. Complete, correct, high-level. Other municipalities will follow.

Carina Van Cauter's wet dream is shattered. That policy plan as such will not be realized. If she puts on her bold blue shoes, brushes aside the objections or wallpapers the walls of her bastion with them and pushes her wet dream plan through anyway, the Council of State will kick her shoes to the moon, like John our little neighbor did. You remember that children's song, don't you?

Popular anger will do the rest.

On the other hand, Carina Van Cauter has already achieved an incredible feat: she will go down in the history books.