Flanders plans to go from 300 to 100 municipalities by 2030. In Wallonia, only a handful of entities are seriously considering it.
The municipality of Boortmeerbeek has been the scene of many tensions for several weeks. Thursday, April 21, angry residents went to their town hall to express their anger. No question for them of merging with the neighboring municipality of Mechelen, as planned by the two Open VLD mayors. If these two entities were to marry, the approximately 12,000 Boortmeerbeekois would no longer belong to Flemish Brabant but to the province of Antwerp. And some people don’t want that. The case was therefore suspended.
Not all municipal mergers are the subject of conflicts of the same order, but it is certain that this phenomenon is not insignificant. In 2016, in the wake of the application of a decree proposed by the Flemish Minister Liesbeth Homans (N-VA), 15 municipalities took the necessary steps to form only 7 when the legislature changed in 2019. Thanks to the financial incentives presented by Flanders, 14 other entities will merge to reach 7 in 2025. Eventually, the Flemish government hopes to manage to go from 300 to 100 municipalities by 2030.
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