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

COE: Congress fact-finding mission to Belgium

/noticias.info/ Strasbourg, 07.05.2008 – 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 Congress team includes Michel Guégan (head of delegation - France), Dobrica Milovanovic (Serbia) and Anders Knape (Sweden), 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 the following meetings:

on Monday 13 May,

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

- Patrick Dewael, Vice Prime Minister of the Belgian Federal Government and Minister for Home Affairs

- 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 (Linkebeek), Arnold d’Oreye de Lantremange (Krainhem/Crainhem), François van Hoobrouck d’Aspres (Wezembeek-Oppem),

- the members of the Belgian delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe,

on Tuesday 14 May,

- Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Minister-President of the Government of the German-speaking Community and Congress member

- representatives of the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities

- 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,

- representatives of the French-speaking Association of the Brussels periphery.

The delegation will make a communication at the end of the mission, during a press conference, which 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