“We are very concerned about what emerges from the ongoing discussions at the federal level, but also about the super Brussels regional institutional rating, which recommends the merger of police zones, CPAS and municipalities. We are resolutely opposed to this!“, thunders Benoît Cerexhe (Les Engagés), mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre “We don’t say that because we are little barons sitting on their municipal power. But because these positions, taken by people like Georges-Louis Bouchez, are part of a form of fantasy of rationalization, as if security would improve by distancing the police from the citizen. The only studies carried out on the issue point to the fact that these mergers would not lead to greater efficiency.”
This message seemed to be fairly well shared on Tuesday morning at the conference of Brussels mayors. On Wednesday, Olivier Maingain, mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, also took a position in a press release to oppose the merger of police zones.
Mayors disagree with Maxime Prévot
This institutional vision, obviously, has not yet reached the E411 axis. Tuesday morning on BX1, Maxime Prévot, president of Les Engagés, declared:more open to merging fonts for operational purposes, for zone optimization “. He believes “surprising“the”status quo behind which some camp“.
“Obviously, our message did not go down well enough with the negotiators.”says Claire Vandevivere, mayor of Jette.
“Sometimes, the negotiators around the table do not have as detailed knowledge of the Brussels police zones, or the effectiveness of the municipalities, as the Brussels mayors“, regrets Benoît Cerexhe.
Does the Conference of Mayors, the “shadow Brussels government”, have too much power?
“The reform of police zones is not based on any objective analysis. And it does not address the fundamental problem, which is the underfunding of police zones. Our police zone (Brussels West) is the 5th in the country in terms of population, but it is 57th in terms of funding (Editor’s note: reduced to per capita funding. Federal funding is not fair for Brussels. We need to review the KUL standard (Editor’s note: funding standard for the federal police)”, notes Christian Lamouline, mayor of Berchem-Sainte-Aghate.
“We also want to highlight the ambivalence of the voices who talk to us about rationalization, transfers of skills to the Brussels Region, while discrediting us…” continues the mayor of Jette. “But we are not opposed to any reform. If we merge each municipality with its CPAS, that would already be a huge step.”
“French-speakers must mobilize to defend Brussels”
Remember that the 19 Brussels municipalities, when the Brussels Region was created at the end of the 1980s, were designed as a rear base, to still be able to administer the capital in the event of a community blockage.
For Benoît Cerexhe, this heritage must be preserved. “Francophones must mobilize to defend Brussels, and resist the institutional aims of the N-VA, and Flemish parties in general. Merging police zones is only the first step. These mergers would above all allow the Flemish parties to strengthen their power in Brussels via the Region, where they are better represented than in the municipalities.”
Does the Conference of Mayors, the “shadow Brussels government”, have too much power?
For Jean-Paul Van Laethem, mayor of Ganshoren, the Dutch-speaking positions constitute an illusion. “The main subject is the financial crisis of the Region, which faces a budget deficit of 14 billion euros. And mergers of police zones or municipalities will not address this problem.”
“I am also surprised that, in the note from the Dutch-speaking parties, we find nothing on the reform of the regional administration”, concludes Christian Lamouline, mayor of Berchem-Sainte-Aghate. Since the last state reform, there has been a fragmentation of regional services, with the creation of new bodies which become states within a state. How many people work for Parking. brusselsUrban, or Actiris? These regional bodies were created to make Brussels work better, but I don’t have the impression that this is the case. The region has supported a series of organizations, whose efficiency should be analyzed today, but we don’t talk about that…”
