Tienen Council Seating Plan Overturned by Mayor Holslag

Tienen (Eurotoday) – Mayor Jonathan Holslag of the Durf party reversed his decision on council seating, allowing members to sit by party after opposition. Bart Thomas of Tienen Anders criticized the backlash but suggested a trial for new ideas. Elias Cool of Vlaams Belang supported the return to the old plan due to communication issues during voting.

Mayor Jonathan Holslag of the Durf party has changed his decision about the seating in the Tienen council. He initially wanted members to sit in alphabetical order. After facing strong opposition, he will now allow members to sit with their party again. 

Holslag did not comment, but Bart Thomas, leader of Tienen Anders, addressed the matter. He said the opposition was very upset and even considered skipping meetings. Thomas found this reaction disappointing. He believes the strong pushback left Holslag with no choice but to revert to the old seating arrangement.

Did the Tienen council miss an opportunity with alphabetical seating?

According to Bart Thomas, he prefers sitting with his party. However, he pointed out that Durf won the elections with a message of innovation. He thinks other parties should be open to new ideas. Thomas criticized the opposition for rejecting the new seating plan outright. He suggested implementing a trial period of six months to evaluate its effectiveness. 

He admitted that people prefer familiarity, but he believes refusing to try new approaches is unhelpful. He also stated that threatening to boycott meetings was unnecessary. While the old seating plan is being reinstated, he believes not testing the new idea was a missed opportunity for the council to become more open and modern.

“On the other hand, Durf won the elections by a wide margin with a story of innovation. The other parties must also be prepared to accept this. Threatening with a boycott is of no use to anyone. This was something new. We could have done this for six months and then evaluated whether it was better or not,”

Thomas concludes.

Elias Cool, the leader of Vlaams Belang, has a different perspective from Bart Thomas. He believes returning to the old party-based seating arrangement is a smart choice. His main concern is not just about how members sit but how the decision was made. Cool claims the opposition was not consulted before the change, which he finds disappointing. 

He acknowledges that Holslag’s original plan had a positive message. The mayor wanted to emphasize that all representatives in Tienen should be heard and that working together is essential. Cool appreciates the intent, even if he disagrees with the approach.

According to Cool, the new alphabetical seating arrangement caused issues. It affected how the council functioned. During the first meeting, there were voting mistakes. Members of Durf, the mayor’s party, accidentally supported an opposition proposal. 

Cool believes this happened because the new seating arrangement made communication difficult. He also noted that there was disagreement among the majority coalition regarding the change, which weakened its legitimacy. Due to these problems, Cool believes reverting to the old seating arrangement was a wise decision. It will provide clarity and help prevent confusion in future meetings.