Overvuren might sound the best and simplest. But it twists the meaning of Tervuren away from by the river Voer or Ter Voer. Not much better is Ter Ijse for Over Ijse, a river named by the Celts. Even worse, is Druivenstreek with no history and also pointing to murky areas beyond Tervuren and Overijse, such as Bertem, Hoeilaart, and Huldenberg.
If lucky, Tervurenaars may help choose a new name. Following rejections of mergers elsewhere in Flanders, it is uncertain, though, whether town grandees could trust Tervuren’s 14,164 voters with the weighty decision of a merger. And don’t forget the significant opposition to Tervuren’s last merger with Duisburg in 1977.
The N-VA wants Flanders’ communes under 40,000 inhabitants to merge, believing smaller communes cannot deal with all the challenges. This would include Tervuren’s 23,077 and Overijse’s 25,970 residents. More details, though, would probably only filter out slowly after municipal elections on Sunday 13 October.
Fantastic f-word fusion
Tervurenaars are not an asking party for a ‘fusie’ — an f-word, mayor Marc Charlier admits. Charlier has the thankless duty of investigating further, especially if Flanders obliges town’s under 40,000 to merge. And even more so if there’s once again the prospect of shaving €11.5 million off Tervuren’s debt.
“We should first do our homework before making statements for or against,” Charlier told the town council last year when plans for an expensive study sneaked out. Town hall then stated the public would be “closely involved” at every stage, but there was no talk of holding a referendum.
Doing your homework is probably best before Flanders forces mergers on communes under the N-VA’s magic 40,000 inhabitants. And there’s a good match for the Flemish nationalist N-VA, which provides, or helps provide, the mayor in both Tervuren and Overijse. Both communes traditionally have similar core 20% N-VA vote shares at federal, Flemish, and European elections in June. Groen and Flemish Catholics, too, are currently in a coalition with the N-VA in both communes. Tervuren’s N-VA also profits from up to 10% more support in October, thanks to Vlaams Belang, which doesn’t normally stand in Tervuren’s town council elections.
Neither Tervuren’s Flemish nor Kraainem’s and Wezembeek-Oppem’s French-speaking politicians appear to be considering fusing with each other. On the other hand, a merger with Overijse wouldn’t overly threaten the chances of Tervuren’s Flemish politicians. With a combined population of 47,047, the new mayor of Overvuren, Terijse, or Druivenstreek would then earn €110,380 per year—a decent income, especially as Belgian local politicians enjoy their second jobs.
Politicians to decide …
Given the electoral realities, the final decision likely depends less on Tervuren’s 14,164 registered voters but on whether Groen chooses a Flemish liberal (OpenVLD), nationalist (N-VA), or Catholic (CD&V) as Tervuren’s mayor after the October 13 elections.
Aside from N-VA-dominated Overijse, Bertem has only 10,242 inhabitants. But it does currently have a liberal OpenVLD mayor. And union with Bertem may offer a clearer path, for an ambitious Tervuren liberal, to a €104,267 per year mayorship. Any Tervuren-Bertem union would only get to 33,319 inhabitants and not the N-VA’s magic number of 40,000.
“I’m against a merger, whether with a Green, yellow [N-VA], or blue [liberal] municipality,” Flemish liberal candidate for Tervuren mayor, Thomas Geyns tells Tervuren+. If selected, Geyns, like mayor Charlier, might nonetheless be obliged by Flanders to face the looming political reality of mergers.
“A municipality must have at least 40,000 inhabitants according to N-VA. That is twice the size of Vossem, Duisburg, Moorsel, and Tervuren. No, thanks,” Geyns tells his Facebook friends. “We don’t need to merge with Overijse for the money.”
Non-Belgian? Why not register for the October elections? Who know. Maybe you'll also get to decide on a merger. It's free and easy via Itsme and eID before Wednesday, 31 July, at https://www.inscription.elections.fgov.be.
Other language versions of this article is available on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tervurenplus/posts/122158671482146804
Author: Dafydd ab Iago. Copyright: © Article and photo are licensed © 2024 for Tervuren+ under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
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