Mayor of Knokke formally: “Reallocation of powers has nothing to do with audit”

On Tuesday, an article in the newspaper De Tijd revealed that the alderman will exchange his powers for other powers from 1 January. Mayor Piet De Groote emphasizes that this is only part of the arrival of three new aldermen from January.

Knokke-Heist will receive three new aldermen on 1 January. This means that some powers are being redistributed. What was striking was that first alderman Kris Demeyere, responsible for Urban Planning and Urban Development, will exchange his powers. The ships came into disrepute after a report from Audit Vlaanderen about a conflict of interest. The mayor now formally denies that the two cases have anything to do with each other.

According to De Groote, the switch had been fixed for a long time. “Three new aldermen will be added, so the powers will be redistributed. No less than seven of the eight people on the board will receive new powers. The fact that alderman Demeyere will receive other powers has nothing to do with the audit.” Moreover, the mayor emphasizes that the audit is already two years old. “Neither the opposition nor the majority asked for sanctions at the time. If the ships had made mistakes, they would have intervened two years ago. The insinuation is not correct at all,” emphasizes De Groote. The division of powers has yet to be submitted to the municipal council.