How do nine Antwerp districts begin the second half of the legislative process? New faces in aldermen’s colleges Ekeren and Borgerhout | Antwerp
Mariam El Osri took the oath as alderman in Borgerhout last week. She will be responsible for sports, small businesses and the local economy, neighborhood consultation and the Laar neighborhood. Borgerhout is an outsider in terms of coalition. Since 2013, a left-wing team of Groen, Vooruit and PVDA has been controlling. Marij Preneel (Green) is the local mayor. Also income: three out of five aldermen have immigrant roots. Aïssatou Cissé (Vooruit) is only 22 and thus the youngest district alderman in all of Antwerp. She succeeded Ben Segers in October 2020.
Groen’s team is completed by Mariam El Osri and Omar Al Jattari. The PVDA face in the college is Ben Van Duppen, son of the regretted arts Dirk Van Duppen.
Ex-district mayor quits
A generational change is taking place at Vooruit in Ekeren. Ronny Kruyniers (67) will retire in 27 years of active politics. He passes the prestige on to Fabienne Van Damme (50), who is starting her first executive lead. “It was time to take it easy and opt for the family,” says Kruyniers. He was alderman from 2001 to 2006, district mayor from 2007 to 2012, and again alderman for at least three years.
Fabienne Van Damme was on a list for the first time in 2018. “Although I was already politically engaged before,” says the mother of a teenage daughter and teenage sons. “I work as a clerk at the German container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd. I will continue to do that job, but I get a few days a week for my alderman’s mandate.”
In the neighborhoods that will be added to Ekeren in 2019 – Rozemaai, Schoonbroek and Edison – we can definitely still develop for youth work.
Van Damme will be responsible for youth, greenery and diversity. “The policy is good in Ekeren, I now want to develop it further. In the neighborhoods that will be added to Ekeren in 2019 – Rozemaai, Schoonbroek and Edison – we can definitely still develop for youth work. The children’s council was installed in October. An anti-bullying policy is on the agenda.”
Wilrijk model of stability
In the other seven Antwerp districts, nothing will change for the time being. The Wilrijk district is gradually occupying a unique position. The same five aldermen have even been at the helm for nine years. “We just hang together well,” says district mayor Kristof Bossuyt (N-VA). “I don’t expect immediate changes in the three years either.” In addition to Bossuyt’s party members Linda Verlinden and Robert Moens, Hans Ides (CD&V) and Werner Theuns (Open Vld) also remain loyal to the post.
Nevertheless, there has already been speculation about a possibility at Open Vld. District councilor Alexandra D’Archambeau is named to succeed Werner Theuns in 2023. D’Archambeau cannot become alderman as long as she is government commissioner. In addition, she has a chance in the Antwerp city council to be currently working on his last days as alderman for Erica Caluwaerts who takes over the job, vacates his seat.
There was a change in Berchem in September 2020: CD&V alderman Edwin De Cleyn followed love and changed to Brasschaat. His main business was taken over by Buket Karaça. Flemish MP and party leader Willem-Frederik Schiltz (Open Vld) is a member of the district council. Now that he grabs next to a ship’s post, that will most likely not change.
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