The city of Namur has moved to suspend a decades-long partnership with the French town of Menton after it elected a far-right mayor earlier this year.
In mid-March, local elections were held in every municipality of France and saw mayors elected for six-year terms. In the coastal Provence town, the vote was won by Alexandra Masson, a member of the far-right Rassemblement National party led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
Masson won nearly half of the votes in the second round of the election in Menton, which had been governed by the right-wing Les Républicains party and its previous iterations since the 1950s. Following the election, the Walloon capital's municipal council decided to bring an immediate end to its ties with the town, according to RTBF.
'A matter of consistency'
"The far-right uses rhetoric that polarises society," explained Councillor Charlotte Déom (MR), to France 3 Côte d’Azur. "It's a matter of consistency. In April 2025, the city of Namur passed a motion clearly reaffirming our commitment to democratic values, rule of law, equality and respect for fundamental rights."
"This motion requires us to ensure that our external relations do not contradict these principles," the politician added. "As the Rassemblement National is identified as a far-right party, it seemed obvious to us that we should take a clear position, in line with our motion."
Namur is governed by a coalition consisting of Les Engagés and MR, with mayor Charlotte Bazelaire (standing in for Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot) coming from the first of the two parties.
Twinning link revived in 2023
Namur first established ties with Menton, which sits on the border with Italy, in 1956. According to Déom, the partnership was nevertheless never formalised as a twinning agreement, and had been dormant for several years until a Menton official suggested relaunching it in 2023.
Later that year, the French public broadcaster reports, the Belgian city was added to the list of twin towns displayed in Menton. A road sign, installed at entrance of the town on the Italian border in 2023, features Namur's coat of arms along with those of Montreux in Switzerland, and Baden-Baden in Germany.
Last week, the local authorities of Menton told France 3 that they were yet to receive official confirmation from their Belgian counterparts that the twinning initiative had ended. The city of Namur has nevertheless indicated that a letter would soon be sent to the Provence town to confirm the end of the partnership.
