Fuente: © Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/

COE: Congress fact-finding team to visit Belgium

/noticias.info/ Strasbourg, 05.05.2008 – The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is sending a fact-finding team to Belgium on 13 and 14 May 2008 to look into the situation following the failure by the Flemish Home Affairs Minister to appoint three mayors in municipalities on the outskirts of Brussels. The team will include Michel Guégan (head of delegation - France), Dobrica Milovanovic (Serbia) and Anders Knape (Sweden, EPP-CD), Vice-President of the Congress.

In accordance with the decision by the Bureau of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress, the purpose of the visit is to assess the situation of local democracy in Belgium in the light of the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

The Congress delegation will hold successive meetings with:

- Charles Picqué, Minister-President of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region,

- Patrick Dewael, Belgian Home Affairs Minister,

- Marino Keulen, Minister for Home Affairs, Urban Policy, Housing and Civic Integration of the Flemish Region,

- the three mayors who were not appointed, Damien Thiéry (mayor of Linkebeek), Arnold d’Oreye de Lantremange (mayor of Krainhem/Crainhem), François van Hoobrouck d’Aspres (mayor of Wezembeek-Oppem),

- Hervé Doyen, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs, responsible for local and regional authorities in the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region, and

- Marleen Vanderpoorten, Speaker of the Parliament of the Flemish Region,

as well as several experts and academics.

A press conference will be held at 4.30 pm on Wednesday 14 May at the Crowne Plaza Europe Hotel, Brussels (rue de la Loi 107 – Schuman room). notas_de_prensa_archivo