Political fire in Wielsbeke flares up: City council fines colleagues for their own drinking in OC
Team 8710, a party that is actually a split from the CD&V in Wielsbeek, had drunk a few bottles of beer during a board meeting in the meeting center Leieland. “We won that thanks to our 5the place during the quiz of the parent committee of Ooigem,” says the party.
But the regulations say that you are not allowed to drink your own liquor in the meeting center. The council members involved have apologized for this. But at the city council, the remaining CD&V members, and the opposition parties N-VA, U. and Vlaams Belang voted for a fine of 500 euros for the members of Team 8710. The fine would first be intended for CD&V Wielsbeke, because the meeting would invested under that name, but in reality the current CD&V members had nothing to do with it.
Politics at its finest
“This is politics at its narrowest,” said Frédéric Depypre of Team8710. “Apparently, the warning does not count for us, while there were five similar incidents in the past year and a half. The association always received a warning first.”
City Council unauthorized
“Team 8710 has asked the supervisory authority for advice on the point. That advice states that the point is not the responsibility of the city council, but of the management committee – this is the college of aldermen,” says Team8710. The members of the opposition say that the city council does have authority: “Members of Team8710 also sit on the council, which as a result cannot make a decision as an involved party.”