Thursday evening 8 p.m.: “My expectations? That everything will be fine.” New Antwerp Vooruit municipal councilor Kathleen Van Brempt still had high hopes for it at the start of the general members meeting in the ABVV trade union building on the Paardenmarkt.
Three hours later it seems to have been a vain hope. Councilor Jinnih Beels has withdrawn as party leader for Vooruit in the municipal elections in October. “My focus now is on the national elections of June 9, for which I am campaigning with great enthusiasm,” Beels says afterwards. “But that also means that I will turn the local page at the end of my mandate. We have had a good General Meeting, and I am convinced that peace can finally return. I am confident that the party will appoint a new local party leader to continue our work after 2024.”
Dirk Wiesé, board member at Vooruit Antwerpen, who, as a conciliator, had to get everyone on the same page again, addressed the press after the general meeting. “We didn’t expect this,” says Wiesé. “Jinnih (Beels, ed.) has presented her party leadership to the members. And now the leadership position for October is open again. So it is up to the members. The noses are in the same direction. We have allowed ourselves to be separated in this college. I have heard from members that we now have to close our ranks. And that we have to show who we are. We will all join the campaign for Jinnih. If she lets us know that she believes it is better to make her position available to the general membership meeting, we must respect that.”
“No one asked for her resignation,” Wiesé emphasizes. “And we all continue to support her as Antwerp’s party leader for the Chamber in the federal elections on June 9.”
Read Beels’ full communiqué here:
I have a great love for my city and it is a great honor to be an alderman in Antwerp. Thanks to us, the city once again got a social face and I am personally very proud of that. In a non-evident coalition, as a junior partner, we have succeeded, among other things, in providing school meals for our children and young people, we have introduced practical tests, and in 6 months we have set up an emergency school for students from exceptional backgrounds. education.
My focus now is on the national elections of June 9, for which I am campaigning with great enthusiasm. But that also means that I will turn the local page at the end of my mandate. We have had a good General Meeting, and I am convinced that peace can finally return. I am confident that the party will appoint a new local party leader to continue our work after 2024.
The focus should be on the people of Antwerp and their concerns; from being able to walk safely on the street to affordable bills, both in the city and beyond. In the coming months, together with all Vooruit departments in the province of Antwerp, I will do everything I can to convince voters. Moving forward is the only alternative to combating the extremes and coming up with realistic solutions. So I hope to gain the confidence of the people of Antwerp to defend their interests in the federal parliament. In any case, I feel on the street and in the field, in all my conversations with people, that there is a lot of enthusiasm for what we do.
(YesS, svw)
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