Forced to team up with his former socialist foes to govern Antwerp, New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) leader Bart De Wever says he hopes his 2018-2024 term of office will be calmer than his first. "The preceding legislature was sometimes stormy, so I am hoping for a calmer administration, especially from May,” after the European regional, federal and European elections, he commented on Friday after taking the oath of office before Antwerp Governor Cathy Berz. “I also see a possibility for achieving more consensus at City Hall.”
When the N-VA lost the majority it shared in the provincial government with the Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) and Open Vld parties on 14 October, De Weever entered into weeks-long negotiations with other formations that resulted in an alliance with the Socialist Party Otherwise (sp.a) and Open Vld.
The N-VA leader’s biggest challenge remains the Osterweel road connection to complete the Antwerp Ring together with projects to resurface the ring.
“People have the impression that many works are in progress, but they have not seen anything yet, I fear,” he noted. “It’s in the longer term that these works will have an enormous positive impact on the city in terms of mobility and living comfort.”
The Brussels Times
