Two connoisseurs of Belgian politics, Alain Gerlache, political journalist at RTBF and columnist for Le Morgen and Ivan de Vadder, political journalist for VRT and columnist for Le Soir and RTBF, author of the book ” Wanhoop in de wetstraat “, invite us to an exceptional deciphering of our Belgian political scene. The duo, who created the bilingual podcast Plan B, have been scrutinizing Belgian politics for over 30 years and will share without concession their views on Vivaldi government and the future of Belgium after 2024.

Share their analysis on government’s action in the face of crises, the interaction of different levels of power and how the rise of extremist parties will influence our democracy. Based on their experience they will share their views on the future of Belgium after the electoral year 2024 and the chance of finding common grounds between Flemish and French-speaking political forces. Hakima Darhmouch will explore with them the ways to our democratic model and restore confidence in a vulnerable socio-economic context.

SPEAKERS:

Alain Gerlache spent his childhood in Central Africa. He has a degree in Germanic philology from UCL. As a language teacher, he also got involved in the adventure of free radio. He then joined RTBF as a journalist, specialising in political information. In 1996, he launched his hard-hitting interview programme, “À bout portant”.

In 1999, he accepted the offer of the new Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to become his spokesman. In 2003, he was appointed director of television at RTBF. In January 2007, Alain Gerlache became the new Secretary General of the Communauté des télévisions francophones (CTF), a position he was reappointed to in 2010 and 2013.

From September 2010 onwards, he will be the morning correspondent for mediaTIC on La Première (RTBF radio).  Since September 2013, he has been the Media21 columnist on the Classic21 channel. In September 2015, he launched the programme “Les Décodeurs” on La Première devoted to the web, the media and communication.

Alain Gerlache is involved in projects related to the Francophonie. With Christian Agbobli and Dominique Mégard, he is one of the three sponsors of the “Cercle des communicants et journalistes francophones” (CCJF) founded by Damien Arnaud.

Also active in the Flemish media, he regularly contributes to the daily De Morgen and VRT on the relationship between French and Dutch speakers in Belgium. Alain Gerlache was a lecturer in journalism at the University of Liège and at the UCL-Mons where he dealt with web journalism and interactive media. In 2019, he is launching the first bilingual French-Dutch podcast with VRT journalist Ivan De Vadder.

Ivan De Vadder studied Germanic philology and graduated from the Catholic University of Leuven. He started his career at VRT as a traffic reporter. In 1990 he worked as a science columnist on the Radio 1 “Eenhoorn” programme and passed the journalism exam the following year (1991). He then joined the TV news team as a commentator, and from 1994 onwards he worked entirely as a political journalist. From 1996 to 2003 he was the host of the political talk show “De zevende dag”. He became a key figure in VRT’s election results analysis evenings and was a regular on Canvas or as a political commentator on VRT’s main news programs and as a presenter of political programs until the second half of 2010, when he hosted a revised version of “De zevende dag” every week. He has published several books amongst “ Het Waterloo van Links”, “ The Power of people” and “ Bang !”.

Timing:

• 18:30 > Welcome
• 19:00 – 20:00 > Conference and Q&A