Yet another mural of a passionate embrace between Belgium's government formation kingmakers has cropped up, this time in Saint-Gilles.
The first image of Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) and Bart De Wever (N-VA) locking lips appeared in Antwerp last month. The Brussels rendition followed shortly afterwards and is accompanied by the slogan "'Please help us to overcome this climate crisis together".
The mural is a contemporary Belgian take of the 'Fraternal Kiss', painted on the Berlin Wall in 1990 to depict a famous embrace between Secretary-General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev and Secretary-General of the Socialist Unified Party of Germany Erich Honecker at a conference in 1979. Bolt's revamped slogan echoes that of the original: "My God, help me to survive this deadly love".
'Fraternal Kiss' on the Berlin Wall, painted by Dmitri Vrubel in 1990. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
'The climate is barely mentioned'
Renewable energy supplier Bolt has claimed responsibility for both artworks and says the initiative is an attempt to place climate change at the heart of government formation negotiations, which are still ongoing in Brussels, Flanders and at the federal level. Wallonia swore in its regional government on Monday.
"Before the election and now in the negotiations, the climate is barely mentioned," commented Bolt cofounder and CEO Pieterjan Verhaeghen. "We want to remind them not to neglect a strong climate plan in their coalition agreement."
Verhaeghen points to the "yes-no game on nuclear energy", which has stalled progress on implementing renewable energy. He also underlines the fact that a switch to renewables would benefit local sources as well as being good for the climate.
The company calls on Belgium to reach the goal of making 65% of its energy renewable as soon as possible and warns that the country's current performance places it at the same level as Hungary, "where Orbán openly and clearly declares that climate targets are a pipe dream".
"The technology, the desire to change and the funding are all there. It's now up to the new government to do something about it."
