Brussels MP Françoise Scheepmans announced on Wednesday that she would hand over her mandate as head of the MR group to the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. She will be replaced in this function by the Walloon MP Diana Nikolic.
“The choice of Diana Nikolic is part of a desire to bring out new profiles while relying on our experienced figures, since Diana Nikolic will work closely with the Walloon group leader Jean-Paul Wahl and the Brussels group leader. Alexia Bertrand“, indicated Wednesday evening the president of the party, Georges-Louis Bouchez.
This transfer of powers follows the reform, last summer, of the statutes of the MR, in particular as regards the accumulation of mandates.
Cumulation of mandates
The new provisions within the party indeed establish the incompatibility between a parliamentary mandate and an executive mandate in a municipality of more than 50,000 inhabitants, which is the case of Françoise Scheepmans, regional deputy and first alderman in Molenbeek, an entity which has nearly 100,000 souls.
Last September, however, she said she would not give up either of her two terms.
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However, it was mentioned at the time that she would cede her role of group leader to the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which is now done.
43-year-old Diana Nikolic has been a Walloon MP since 2018 and municipal councilor in Liège since 2006.