A town council row saw Mayor Thomas Geyns accusing the opposition of hypocrisy during the official appointment of Bram Bartholomees, head of the Koninklijk Atheneum Tervuren (KAT) school. The opposition had raised ethical and practical considerations concerning the appointment to the €59,882 per year post.
Geyns (Open VLD, Voor Tervuren) slammed the opposition for a cynical bid to grab headlines with snappy soundbites in the local press. He pointed to a former KAT teacher and later director who once served as alderman for the Belgian Socialist Party, the predecessor of Vooruit. And the mayor also took aim at a former Groen alderman for spatial planning, now working for the Vlaams-Brabant province. “He might even pop into the office upstairs one day a week. And yet you dare lecture me on ethics,” Geyns said.
🎙️ A version of this article is available as a Tervuren+ podcast at https://www.youtube.com/@TervurenPlus 🎙️
Daughter, grand-daughter, grandson and wife
The opposition has spoiled a “unique moment” for Bartholomees, the mayor noted. The KAT boss joins Geyns’ team of six as new alderman for City Marketing and Events. Other notables include first alderman Kristina Eyskens. She is the daughter of former Belgian Prime Minister and baron Mark Eyskens and grand-daughter of former Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens.
Aldermen earn €59,882 per year and normally maintain their daytime jobs. Other big names include two N-VA alderpersons: ex-mayor Marc Charlier and Annemie Spaas, the wife of former mayor and current Vlaams-Brabant governor Jan Spooren. Also featuring is infrastructure alderman Sebastiaan Coudré (CD&V), grandson of a former mayoress and son of a former alderman.
The opposition had argued that Bartholomees would face “ethical concerns”. As KAT director, he’d have a say in decisions affecting rival municipal schools, from education policies to local traffic plans. Strict 2006 Flemish rules normally force school directors to take political leave. But the rules only apply in towns with over 80,000 residents. That leaves Tervuren, where aldermen typically keep their day jobs, in the clear.
Seasoned player in Tervuren politics
A second clash flared over new powers for council chairman Mario Van Rossum (CD&V, Voor Tervuren), who also heads the ethics committee. He can now block agenda items deemed “poorly justified or too vague”. “It’s like a Roman emperor giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. You’re punishing all councillors over two interventions you think are weak,” snapped Groen+ leader Elmo Peeters.
Van Rossum insisted the new rule includes a consultation phase where councillors can refine their proposals before any rejection. Earlier this year, he was obliged to request that a Tervuren+Volt member take “more care” and add “substance” when reading out her questions.
Van Rossum is a seasoned player in Tervuren politics. By day, he advises on local administration for ex-mayor Jan Spooren (N-VA), Vlaams-Brabant’s governor since 2020. A council member since 1994, Van Rossum served as alderman from 1994 to 2000 and again from 2006 to 2021.
Author: Dafydd ab Iago. © Article and photos licensed © 2024 for Tervuren+ under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Dafydd ab Iago
Editor