CD&V leader Sammy Mahdi revealed on Saturday that he wants at least 20% of the party’s candidates in the 2024 local elections to be over 60. Mahdi was speaking at the Flemish Christian democratic party's New Year’s reception at Tour & Taxis in Brussels.
According to the CD&V chairman, older people are wrongly described as too expensive and unproductive on the labour market, whereas they are "responsible and self-confident individuals who want to use their extensive knowledge and experience for longer."
This is why Mahdi wants his party’s lists for the 2024 local elections "to be composed of at least 20% of people over 60. It is not because the world is speeding up that a car with a few more kilometres on the clock should be scrapped," he said.
The CD&V president also expressed the wish that "respect" would become the word of the year "and the best way for politicians to give back this respect to the population is to work on reforms at Flemish and federal level in 2023."
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Sammy Mahdi referred in particular to the tax reform, led by Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem.
"Those who don’t want to go with us will have to explain why they want to jeopardise the prosperity of 11 million Belgians. Those who do not want to reform are the gravediggers of their own country."
The New Year’s reception took place in front of 2,000 members of the Flemish Social Democrat party.
