Kortrijk –
After a feud of more than ten years, archrivals Open VLD and CD&V have buried the hatchet in Kortrijk. The party of current mayor Vincent Van Quickenborne, together with the Christian Democrats, goes to voters under the list Team Mayor, City List for Kortrijk.
The collaboration is remarkable, because in the 2012 municipal elections, CD&V was sidelined as the largest party in Kortrijk. Vincent Van Quickenborne then became mayor after an election result in which CD&V was the largest party. It should have been a third term for Stefaan De Clerck, but CD&V was pushed into opposition for twelve years by a new cartel between N-VA, Vooruit and Open VLD.
Shortly after the 2012 elections, the entire CD&V faction gave a press conference in Café Balthazar, in which they vented their anger and disappointment about the city coalition that was then put together “behind their backs”. But things can change, especially in politics. On Monday morning, Felix De Clerck, son of the last CD&V mayor, explained that none of those negative feelings have lingered. On the contrary: in recent years the two factions have increasingly found each other.
“That was noticeable in the discussions that were held in the municipal council, in fact we have never really had hard opposition lately,” says party leader Hannelore Vanhoenacker (CD&V). In certain areas, both political groups even found each other very good. “The cut in Bissegem, for example, is a file that both factions plan to re-evaluate.”