Pact Woensel-Zuid in Eindhoven has a new director. And not just one, a former minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Lodewijk Asscher is the replacement of Marcella Oviedo Nunez. This gives the partnership, which must improve the quality of life in the Woensel-Zuid district, a politically heavyweight at the head.
He was alderman and acting mayor in Amsterdam, Minister of Social Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister in the Rutte-II cabinet. Then Lodewijk Asscher became party chairman of the Labor Party in the Lower House. A logical step for such a political leader is then becoming ‘natural’ director of a ‘neighborhood organization’ in Eindhoven.
Although Asscher as director of Pact Woensel-Zuid may not appeal to the imagination as his previous jobs, there is certainly work to be done in the Eindhoven district. And especially his experience as an alderman of finance, attention to good education and Minister of Social Affairs comes in handy as a director in the city of lights.
Problem neighborhoods
The aim of this partnership is to improve the quality of life in Woensel-Zuid. The Eindhoven district has the necessary problem neighborhoods. The Pact has been signed by the municipality, welfare organization, housing associations, residents and entrepreneurs.
The former minister paid his first visit to the neighborhood on Tuesday. “Ensure that every child can grow up safely here: you must know that you may be there, that it doesn’t matter where you were born, that you can make mistakes, learn, grow up, enjoy all the beautiful,” he said.
Enormous contrast
Marcella Oviedo Nuñez, who only started 1 June 2024, decided to stop at the beginning of March 2025 and start a new challenge. Asscher takes over her duties on a temporary basis.
“Here the contrast with the unprecedented economic growth of this region catches the eye. In the coming period I will be working with the program team and all partners who want to change in Woensel-Zuid,” writes the former PvdA politician on his LinkedIn page.
Allowance affair
What can be painful for Louis Asscher is that he will almost certainly encounter victims of the allowance affair in Woensel-Zuid. Families who have been tackled hard by the government and in particular the tax authorities because they were wrongly considered as fraudsters.
As Minister of Social Affairs in the Rutte II cabinet (2012–2017), Asscher was responsible for the policy on childcare allowance. In January 2021 he decided to step as leader of the PvdA and Member of Parliament, after a parliamentary committee issued a destructive report on the actions of his former ministry.