It's confirmed! I will be a candidate in the municipal elections of October 13, 2024 in Tienen. More precisely, I will be number 17 on Tienen Anders' list. What do I personally represent in this diverse and strong team? 3 priorities: prosperity, social policy and orientation towards the future. I am very happy to have been able to personally contribute to the development of Tienen Anders' program, especially in the areas of economics and finance, social policy and sustainability. It's already an honor to be able to (co-)write a program, but above all I hope that you will vote for me so that I can also contribute to its realization. Some of my personal priorities for the city are below, along with an explanation of the skills I can offer to work there.
For a prosperous Tienen
For greater prosperity, the next alderman of economy must have experience in trade, because it is urgent to revive trade in the city center and ensure that the inhabitants of Tienen no longer have to travel to neighboring towns to do their shopping. In the past, I was responsible for a chain of 125 stores. So I know retail well. I want to put my experience at the service of the city and its merchants. Additionally, it is necessary to support and develop our industry. The regional rail hub project should be a priority for the new majority, as it could have a significant impact on the competitiveness and sustainability of factories in our region. Thanks to the location of our city right next to the language border, Tienen can play an economic role not only in Hageland, but also on the other side of the language border. The Economy Alderman must be able to build bridges and collaborate with the leaders of large companies on both sides of the linguistic border, with other levels of government and with actors from civil society organizations. I would very much like to use my multinational industrial experience, my multilingualism and my multiculturalism to contribute to the success of such a project.
Social policy
On a social level, I am intimately convinced that by working on education and integration, we can reduce poverty in Tienen. I was shocked when I discovered last year that 16% of children in Tienen leave school without a diploma. 26% of children in our municipality also grow up in a non-Dutch speaking home. This is an enormous wealth in itself, which we do not emphasize enough: all these children are multilingual from a very young age. However, if Dutch is not sufficiently mastered, this constitutes a handicap. In this context, it seems essential to me to invest in homework schools in local schools, primarily in schools in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, and to ensure that they are very accessible to children from the poorest families. It is also necessary to have social workers and to develop a plan that promotes greater social diversity and avoids the creation and development of pockets of poverty in the city. Finally, I insisted that the Tienen Anders program includes the development of a plan to improve the youth employment rate, because youth unemployment in Tienen is significantly higher than the provincial average. Personally, as I explain in my biography, my commitment to better integration and greater equal opportunities has been the driving force behind my political commitment. I would like to represent the interests of those who need support to integrate, live decently and be happy in the local community.
Ready for tomorrow's challenges
Finally, I find that the city's progress in implementing its climate plan is largely insufficient to face the challenges of climate change and the fall in biodiversity that is taking place before our eyes. Did you know that the city only provides 0.4 full-time equivalents for the coordination of its climate action plan, and that the steering committee only meets twice a year? No wonder then that the results do not follow! According to the report of 07/16/2024, the figures are catastrophic (see table).
It is clearly time to get to work and ensure the effective implementation of the city's climate plan!
In 2023, I followed a program in sustainability and circular economy provided by the University of Cambridge. In this context, I was one of the driving forces in developing Tienen Anders' program on sustainability and would be very happy to be able to take the reins of its implementation. Some of my concrete proposals are:
- Increase the frequency of meetings of the climate plan steering committee and allow the environment official to devote a greater part of his time to it in order to make its implementation a real priority.
- Develop a food strategy to make the food system more sustainable and stimulate short circuits and the circular economy
- Make cycling a priority in the city center by developing and improving cycle paths, increasing the number of cycling streets and the number of cycle parking spaces.
- Introduce selective collection of public trash cans
| Objective | Realisation vs. objective |
|---|---|
| Additional trees planted | 0.01% |
| Energy-saving collective innovations | 1.26% |
| Collective renovations without fossil fuels | 0% |
| Installed capacity and kWp achieved thanks to energy projects | 0% |
| Shared vehicles | 5.51% |
| Charging points | 20.58% |
| Meters of new or structurally improved cycle path | 2.2% |
| m² of surface permeable surfaces are created | 0.03% |
| m³ rainwater retention | 0.03% |
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