This is, therefore, the second time that the order measure adopted in September 2022 has been renewed for a period of 6 months.
For the Office, the impasse is the same as last March: separation measure accompanied by a withholding of 20% of remuneration. With this we are at the maximum of what Parliament can activate, as long as an infraction or serious error cannot be pronounced. In the absence of a judicial decision, President André Frédéric and the majority and opposition deputies who make up the Table are walking on eggshells. There is no legal basis to go beyond a suspension and this withholding of wages.
What would happen if the Office decided otherwise and fired the senior Walloon official? The risk is that the decision will be revoked by the Council of State and that the official will be automatically reinstated at the helm of the ship. The Board could suspend it again. Or not.
Currently, the Labor Prosecutor’s Office, which is carrying out an investigation (not an investigation) into a dozen complaints of moral harassment, has not yet heard from Frédéric Janssens. Not even the members of the Board. And the judicial investigation into the management of real estate files, public contracts, etc. is also still ongoing.
What would happen if no judicial decision was made before the new deadline linked to the suspension, that is, March 15, 2024? Knowing that the elections are scheduled for June 9, 2024, what position could an Office that will resign less than 3 months later still adopt? New extension of the preventive suspension?
From the day after the elections, a provisional presidency manages the day-to-day affairs of Parliament. Could the temporary worker (or she) make, if necessary, an important decision in this regard? no man’s land policy ? When we form a new majority, Parliament will face the deadline of another September 15.
