Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont has no objection to welcoming former far-right candidate Noa Pozzi into the liberal MR party. This follows Pozzi's public announcement over the weekend to renounce his past commitments.
Dolimont (MR) stated that far-right values "have no place with us: we firmly condemn the far-right," during an interview on Bel-RTL. However, he added that "everyone deserves a second chance if they fully abandon far-right ideologies."
Dolimont admitted he was not fully informed about the prior discussions to ensure this commitment. He recognised that Pozzi, the former Chez Nous lead candidate in Liège, should have been subjected to internal consultation before joining MR. Former Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (MR) expressed a similar sentiment, though she acknowledged that people can change their views over time.
Pozzi wrote on Facebook on Saturday, "I am ready to demonstrate my goodwill by all means. Here, I reaffirm my full adherence to liberal values. Although I was a lead candidate for Chez Nous in the federal elections, I have stated and I repeat that my convictions no longer align with that party’s and that I have definitively turned that page of my life."
Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR) noted: "Our goal should be to bring people back into the democratic fold, not push them away. We’ve done this before with PTB militants, for example."
When asked about the fear of far-right ideas spreading within MR, Dolimont said he does not share that concern. "We need to have an assertive and democratic right-wing stance to avoid extremist groups like Chez Nous," he argued.
