The Week of Sacha (Antwerp)
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Four hundred young people are the victims of stubbornness and political unwillingness at the Antwerp College of Aldermen. That is what it boils down to in the whole discussion about the subsidy to the non-profit organization Gatam.
What is it about? Gatam accompanies about four hundred young people who threaten to leave school without a diploma. They follow an intensive process to get them back to school in order to prepare them for the labor market. The project has been subsidized for decades from the Cabinet of the Aldermen for Work. Only former alderman of Werk Claude Marinower (Open Vld) thought that this would better fall under the authority of his colleague from Education Jinnih Beels (Vooruit). He prefers to use the budget for Gatam to create additional podium places in the workplace. Marinower informed Beels in 2019 that he would reduce the subsidy to zero over the years. His successor Erica Caluwaerts (Open Vld) follows that position.
Only Beels sees no reason why they now have to pay for this project at Gatam. It was within the jurisdiction and, in her view, should remain there. Moreover, she needs euros to be able to offer it to the head of education in Antwerp. She has now released 175,000 euros for Gatam, but that remains insufficient.
As early as November last year, there was a public confrontation between Beels and Marinower. Those who had missed it then received a reissue of this debate in the council committee last week. The requested remains. Beels, Marinower and Caluwaerts produce how valuable Gatam’s project is. They point out that they don’t have enough money to support it.
If it is so valuable, then why hasn’t a solution been found in recent years? The first open conflict about this dossier last year could still be framed in the discussion about the position of Open Vld within the coalition. That no solution has yet been found, can only bring back to stubbornness. Vooruit and Open Vld are putting their heels in the sand. The fact that the liberals are now insinuating that another organization will receive a million euros in subsidies from Beels because some socialists are involved, shows how sour the relationship is.
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If there is actually no money for this project and there are others, then at least show some political courage, say so and stop putting the blame on others.
And where is the captain of this coalition: mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA). He does not miss an opportunity to point out that Prime Minister De Croo (Open Vld) does not have his Vivaldi team under his belt, but is blind to the two coalition partners who are arguing about the Grote Markt.
He therefore gets away with it because the Antwerp opposition also allows him. Groen, PVDA, CD&V and Vlaams Belang look amused in the council committee, but that’s about all. Their proposals have to guess what their representatives in the city council decide.
Four hundred young people are the victims of this. Young people die through Gatam working on a second chance and a new future. The fact that the aldermen think it is a nice project is not very comforting.