N-VA and Vooruit present governing agreement for Antwerp
Bart De Wever and Kathleen Van Brempt presented the contents of the government agreement between the N-VA and Vooruit in the city of Antwerp on Saturday morning. Unless there is a breakthrough in the federal formation process, De Wever will continue as mayor of the city.
Antwerp must become "safer, more beautiful, more accessible, more liveable and more sociable" in the coming legislative period, said De Wever, with "no one being left out", said Van Brempt.
As in the previous legislature, the city will continue to "go green and lower taxes". Other ambitions include building or renovating 7,500 social housing units and fighting drug crime. There are also plans to build a cycle bridge over the Scheldt river and to add or extend tram lines.
N-VA's ambition to build a tunnel under the Scheldt quays will not be realised for the time being. The parties have reached a compromise on the traffic flow on the north-south link, which is still being worked out.
Not always easy
The administrative agreement took two months to reach. That is not unusually long for a large city like Antwerp, but the negotiators admit that the talks were not always easy. The contradictions between the right-wing N-VA and the left-wing Vooruit sometimes made compromise difficult.
The same applies to the federal negotiations, where De Wever is leading talks between the N-VA, Vooruit, CD&V, Les Engagés and MR. If these parties manage to form a government, De Wever is likely to leave his post as mayor of Antwerp and become Belgium's next prime minister.
In that case, an N-VA party colleague will run the city in his place. The most likely candidates are Els van Doesburg, who was the third most popular politician in Antwerp with more than 13,000 votes, or city councillor Koen Kennis, Antwerp.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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