THE WEEK OF SACHA. Antwerp democracy comes home again (Antwerp)
Every Saturday, a reporter reports back on the events of the past week.
After eleven years of waiting, no expense was spared to make the opening of the renovated KMSKA a party, with gala ball and all the trimmings. Just before the summer, the renovated town hall opened its doors after four years of closure for renovation. That too was lavishly celebrated. An important event also took place in the same town hall this week, although it was not celebrated in a big way.
On the Schoon Verdiep, the political debate resounded for the first time in five years. For many councilors it was the first time that they could attend a council committee in the town hall. The last municipal council in City Hall was in June 2017, so before the 2018 municipal elections.
For Antwerp Vooruit party leader Hicham El Mzairh it was also a bit of a challenge. The politician is active in decolonization and action against the statue of Father De Deken in Wilrijk. He was already annoyed by the bust of Leopold II in the room next to the temporary council chamber in the Bernardus, but a life-size portrait of II, the king who was responsible for being captured in the Belgian colony of Congo, now hangs in the modified council chamber. Antwerp N-VA councilor André Gantman referred a question from Yasmia Setta (Groen) to the KMSKA and Antwerp’s colonial history. “The question of colonial history will take place under the watchful eye of Leopold II. This painting was created through the course of history,” Gantman op.
Like Gantman, Annick De Ridder (N-VA) also alderman for the municipal councils in the town hall, when he was still a councilor. It is clearly something to take a seat in the state council chamber again. “It’s special for me to be here again,” says De Ridder. They were just that the councilors were rather cool. “Right, you were already here Monday night.”
Now we are looking forward to the city council. Strong debates are on the agenda. What is the position of coalition partners Vooruit and Open Vld in some dossiers? After last Monday about the fight against drug crime in Antwerp, the opposition mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) will be questioned. In recent weeks, it has become clear that coalition partners Vooruit and Open Vld have doubts about the war on drugs. They can of course hide behind the argument that drug policy is not a competence on Monday.
That is not possible when it comes to plans for a tunnel under the Scheldt quays. That is one hundred percent urban competence and Vooruit has already spoken out publicly against this plan. With a motive, Groen will ask to put the plan away. To support this motion. Alderman of Culture Nabilla Ait Daoud (N-VA) will have to defend herself about the dismissal of Ruth Lasters over her poem Ransom was rejected by the ships as a city poem. Here too, Vooruit and Open Vld already know that they were not happy with this refusal.
Antwerp’s democracy will return home with the municipal council in the town hall and that will be clearly heard on the Schoon Verdiep.