But between now and his swearing-in scheduled for Monday, December 2, he had to put together a team.
A week of meetings and negotiations
With Mathilde Vandorpe at the head of the Engagés hurlus, the two women mandated by their president, Maxime Prévot, worked throughout the week, meeting in particular the thinking heads of the Reform Movement, Ecolo and the Socialist Party.
Renewing the Engagés-MR coalition would certainly have been possible, but not without risks. If this majority remained mathematically possible, the slightest hitch during the next legislature could have weakened this precarious balance.
The political history of Mouscron in recent years has sadly demonstrated to what extent nothing is set in stone…
A third partner was therefore needed and it is ultimately the Greens who will strengthen the majority until 2030… at least. Or until the next election.
“For Ecolo, we are facing a challenge and it was important to face our responsibilities by being in charge. We have the vocation to get our hands dirty,” summarized Simon Varrasse.
“My heart is beating very strongly because this is a historic moment for Ecolo, after 40 years of constructive opposition. We will have the opportunity to prove our value in this team, said Simon Varrasse, before adding later: For Ecolo, we are facing a challenge and it was important to face our responsibilities by being in charge. We want to get our hands dirty.”
A team whose faces and functions were revealed this Sunday evening through a press conference in the wedding hall, the appropriate venue for a union!
Two aldermanships for the MR and two others allocated to Ecolo
- Ann Cloetwho becomes mayor, will continue to masterfully manage the finance and budget aspect but also the patriotic associations or the environment and energy which are dear to him. As well as general administration, citizen participation, police, firefighters and emergency planning, legal affairs, international relations, religions.
- Kathy Valcke becomes 1st alderwoman, while ensuring the role of president of the CPAS. She will also have social skills: family and early childhood.
- Laurent Harduin preserves the culture it loves but also everything relating to the management of the national register and civil status, twinning, IT, festivities, the library, the museum and the Marlier center.
- Pascal van Gysel inherits the building works, special techniques, cemeteries, green spaces and cleanliness.
- New arrival: Caroline De Winter – Gadenne will ensure youth, sport, equal opportunities, animal welfare and agricultural commission.
I MR :
- David Vaccari remains in public education, allowing him in particular to continue to carry out the sports school project, as well as artistic education.
- Cedric Jouen2nd man in the party, will become alderman for commerce, personnel, fairs and markets.
“Our desire was also to leave our mark on this college with the DNA of the MR. We wanted the business and the personnel in our skills, even if his predecessor (Editor’s note, Laurent Harduin) was not unworthy,” said the group leader of the Liberals.
At Ecolo:
- Simon Varrasse will manage town planning, mobility, road management, heritage and even housing and archives;
- Anne-Sophie Rogghe will take care of social affairs, health, seniors and disabilities.
“It’s the right casting, it’s the right people in the right place,” Ms. Cloet said.
If some did not necessarily have the skills for their positions, this college has a visibly reassuring image, where everyone has been assigned skills that are known to them. This can only be favorable to the future of the municipality for, at least, the next six years.
Let us further specify that:
- François Mouligneau will become the president of the IEG;
- Mathilde Vandorpe will continue to defend Mouscron in the upper echelons, those of the Walloon Region and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, but will however be the president of the SLM (Mouscron housing company), “function combinable with that of deputy”.
- In addition to these two Engaged, one last position goes to the MR: Nicolas Vande Kerckhove will chair the AIS (Social Real Estate Agency).
“We have clearly taken into account the signal and the choice of the voter (…) I will be the mayor of all the Mouscronnois and there will be a way to work in a calm and constructive manner with this team”concluded Ann Cloet while having a thought for the one she succeeds and who becomes municipal councilor. “She did a good job, even if we didn’t always agree. There will be ways to do things differently by investing…”
