The Walloon government and the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation have appointed several top managers within their administrations, announcing the changes following a joint meeting on Thursday.
In a surprise move, the mandates of Sylvie Marique, Secretary General of the Walloon Public Service, and Frédéric Delcor, Secretary General of the Ministry of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, were not renewed.
Sylvie Marique, who had led the Walloon Public Service for ten years, will be replaced by Stéphane Guisse, who has been renewed as head of SPW Finances and will serve as interim Secretary General of the Walloon administration. Frédéric Delcor had been in charge of the FWB administration for 17 years. An interim replacement is to be appointed, though no names have been announced yet.
In total, there were ten top management positions open in the Walloon Region and eleven in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Only 39 applications were received for these roles, a figure deemed disappointing by authorities keen to continue reforming access to senior civil service roles to broaden the pool of suitable candidates.
For the first time, all candidates were interviewed by a jury consisting of government members, alongside union representatives, and under the supervision of a law firm. Following this procedure, eight top managers were appointed in the Walloon Region and another eight in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Additionally, transition managers Isabelle Roucou at SPW Digital and Yvan Pirenne at ETNIC, the structure responsible for the digitisation of the Federation, have been appointed for two-year terms.
“We had promised to end the politicisation of the administration, and this guided our selections, which were solely based on skills and the projects presented,” commented Jacqueline Galant, Walloon Minister of Public Service.
