Ex-mayor of Knokke announces comeback, six months after dismissal and accusations of conflict of interest (Knokke-Heist)

Piet De Groote (57), the ex-mayor of Knokke-Heist, will present a new political project for the municipal elections on Thursday. De Groote resigned in October 2023 after months of fuss within Gemeentebelangen and the ‘infamous’ open letter.

Piet De Groote was the successor to Leopold Lippens, the legendary ex-mayor of Knokke-Heist who died in February 2021 after a long illness. A thankless task, especially after a real crisis broke out within Municipal Interests last year. Just think of an open letter signed by the entire party, apart from himself. “Backroom politics,” he called it at the time.

READ ALSO. Ex-mayor Piet De Groote about “the last straw” that made him resign: “I no longer want to sit at the table with them”

Several aldermen accused De Groote and his colleague and former alderman Kris Demeyere of a conflict of interest, after a devastating audit. Demeyere was suspended and later kept the honor to himself, in October De Groote announced his retirement live on television with Gert Verhulst. His position had become untenable.

No surprise

But look: on Thursday De Groote will present his new project in Atelier VO2 Max in the Smedenstraat. It is not yet known what name his new list will bear, or who he will take with him to the municipal elections. “I will come out when the time is right, after my dismissal,” he said during his most recent interview in October.

Since then there has been no wind, but his comeback is no surprise: De Groote has always stated that he wanted to strike back. Although the competition will soon be stiff. During the municipal elections, he will compete against his previous Gemeentebelangen faction and his successor Jan De Groote (GBL), but also against the cartel CD&V-N-VA, where councilor Bert De Brabandere would normally be the leader.