The finances of the City of Liège are in the red. Recently, the ING and Belfius banks refused to grant new credit to Liège, as to Mons and Charleroi.
On Thursday, the Walloon government announced that the CRAC (Regional Aid Center for Municipalities) would lend 235 million euros to the towns concerned, in exchange for a savings plan.
“We will first analyze this plan received this Monday. We will not refuse it but we will see how we can subscribe to it,” announced Tuesday to the Cercle de Wallonie the mayor of Liège, Willy Demeyer, speaking for the first time and pleading in favor of a “discussion” rather than a “confrontation”.
“We are going to meet the banks and our contacts in the Region. I remain convinced that these are misunderstandings. We must work with trust and dialogue,” underlined Mr. Demeyer.
For him, the future of Cities requires “centrality” and “metropolization”. “We have to get out of the state we are in, otherwise we are condemned to underdevelopment. We are at a crossroads, there is an obligation to reform,” he further explained, notably putting on the table a project of “mergers” towards a supracommunality.
Municipal finances and City projects will be discussed by Willy Demeyer in the ActuL program this Saturday, December 21 at 7:30 p.m.
