© Serge Pauly / RTL
Rodange Mayor Pierre Mellina wants to authorise the building permit if no new arguments are brought forward, despite the opposition of two citizens' initiatives to the planned wellness hotel.
A recent municipal council session in Pétange drew an unusually large crowd, after the CSV/LSAP alderman council declined an invitation to a meeting organised by two citizen’s initiatives.
Mayor Pierre Mellina used the council meeting to defend the local wellness hotel project, while criticising the “destructive” behaviour of the two citizens' initiatives, which he said were based on “misinformation.”
Mellina explained that the project – a youth and family hotel to be located behind the Rodange swimming pool – had followed proper consultation procedures since the inception of the project in 2010. He further noted that there had been ample opportunity to voice opposition to the project.
The Pirate Party’s local faction, led by MP Marc Goergen, lent support to the citizen’s initiatives, noting that this was not because they opposed to project but rather to facilitate public dialogue. The alderman council expressed the view that it was too late to start such a dialogue, a position echoed by Mellina who emphasised that the council no longer has a legal way out of the project. This position is also supported by the DP opposition to the municipal council.
Henri Krecké, spokesperson for one of the initiatives, thinks that this is "idle talk". Both organisations lament that the aldermen council is "hiding" behind 14-year-old studies, which no longer align with current approaches to climate and species conservation and warrant revaluation.
Mayor Mellina is scheduled to meet with representatives of the two initiatives on Thursday and intends to authorise the project as quickly as possible if no new arguments are presented. Opponents of the decision are free to go to the administrative court and sue, said the Mayor.
Both citizen’s initiatives are considering taking legal action if they can raise sufficient funds.
