In Antwerp it is still not clear whether the coalition between N-VA, Vooruit and Open VLD will last next year. The so-called ultimatum of Open VLD chairman Egbert Lachaert passed without result on Monday and the issue also went unnoticed in the city council. ‘As chairman of this city council, I am the guardian of legally valid deeds,’ said Mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA).
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De Wever be in it on Sunday The Seventh Day on One already note that only the name of current Open VLD councilor Erica Caluwaerts is mentioned on the deeds concerning the planned succession of Open VLD ships Claude Marinower as taking over the chairmanship of the Special Committee for Social Services (say the CPAS).
De Wever therefore suggests that there is no nomination deed for Willem-Frederik Schiltz, who is also not a municipal councillor. Schiltz was put forward by Open VLD as the second liberal alderman from 2022. ‘Each of you can read those deeds’, De Wever also referred to during the city council meeting. ‘It shows the end dates of certain mandates, and the start dates. There are the names of those who stop and those who start.’
• Open VLD under pressure in Antwerp city council
Collect signatures
According to De Wever, whether everything is actually carried out as stated on the deeds is ‘the prerogative of this council’, he submitted to the municipal council. ‘Anyone who wants to become an alderman must obtain sufficient signatures from the council,’ said De Wever as chairman of the municipal council. If you want to become an alderman, you must collect 28 signatures from council members. Schiltz will have to do that himself in this case by first conquering a seat in the city council. With one other Liberal councilor it won’t be easy for Schiltz to find the signatures.
“And if I may give a tip, if you’ve already signed a deed, don’t sign another one, or you can go. The person who becomes alderman is the one who can show the deed at the moment when he or she has to show it’, according to De Wever.
Still probably
But the chance that Schiltz will become ships in Antwerp early next year is greater than suggested. In January 2019, Philippe De Backer (Open VLD) left politics for private reasons. The first successor Erica Caluwaerts was then able to enter the city council early. Since Open VLD was given a third alderman’s office from January 2022, its nomination deed was immediately signed by the other coalition parties. That makes it likely that Open VLD will keep two aldermen in the coalition.
It makes Marinower’s position critical to Schiltz. If he decides to leave early next year, he should in principle be replaced. Schiltz then succeeds him in the city council and thus becomes the only contender for the vacant alderman’s office. It cannot be scrapped without negotiations.
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