Rijkevorsel will lower the minimum age for municipal nuisance fines from 16 to 14, saying younger teenagers are increasingly responsible for disruption.
Belgian municipalities have been allowed to impose these administrative fines on minors from the age of 14 since 2014, but Rijkevorsel had until now kept its threshold at 16.
The local authority said it has seen a growing trend in recent years towards younger offenders. It said action had to be taken during the most recent fair, among other incidents.
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Mayor Dorien Cuylaerts of N-VA said sanctions were not her preferred approach. She said she believed in giving young people opportunities and prioritising dialogue, guidance and prevention.
But she said there had to be limits. Nuisance was starting at an ever younger age, she said, and if talking no longer worked, the municipality had to act.
Cuylaerts said the decision was not about punishing for its own sake, but about setting clear boundaries. A warm and welcoming village, she said, also needs rules.
