Groen Oostende removes Yves Miroir from the faction

In an additional faction meeting, Groen Oostende decided on Friday to no longer work with municipal councilor Yves Miroir. “In recent months, a serious breach of trust has occurred between Groen Oostende and municipal councilor Yves Miroir,” faction leader Kristof Cornelis argues in the press release. “We as a group had no choice but to decide to immediately stop the collaboration.”

Cornelis calls Miroir “disloyal” because he constantly criticized the faction’s policy and was too concerned with his personal agenda. According to Groen, it is impossible to work with him. In addition, the faction accuses Miroir of not wanting to pay his party contributions correctly for years.

Miroir responds: “far from democratic”

Yves Miroir himself fell out of the blue when he received a message from faction leader Kristof Cornelis on Sunday. “No group meeting was held for months,” says Miroir. He complains that he has not been heard. He describes the functioning of the faction as “far from democratic”. He did not agree with the Greens’ positions on certain issues. For example, he does not understand that Groen will again form the cartel ‘Proud of Ostend’ with the, according to him, “anti-environmental parties” CD&V and Open VLD. He thinks the party in Ostend is not ambitious enough in terms of the environment.

However, Miroir left an opening to possibly be on the list for the municipal elections next year. This month he would have a conversation with Wouter De Vriendt, chairman of the municipal council for Green, to hear what the group intends to do in a possible new legislature.

Action group

Miroir denies that he did not pay the party correctly. “If anyone is okay, it’s me,” said the city council member. “The payments are deducted at the source and go directly to Groen.” According to him, it is Groen’s aldermen who do not pay enough by statute.

This week, Yves Miroir himself founded the action group ‘de O mens’ to take further steps than the current policy on issues such as the environment and animal welfare. He did not want to tear himself away from Groen, but that may have been the final straw for the faction. After five years, Miroir’s story ends at Groen Oostende. Before that, he was an alderman for the socialists in the seaside resort for many years, but he had to leave there too. “Back then I still had the right to defend myself,” Miroir adds. Several parties have already approached the Ostend politician to come on board with them.