© Marc Hoscheid
In the run-up to the referendum on a Nordstad merger, the second of three information meetings was held in Burden on Thursday evening.
Next month, residents of Erpeldange-sur-Sûre will vote on whether to authorise their council to continue talks on a major merger that would form a new municipality called Nordstad consisting of Diekirch, Ettelbruck, and Schieren.
The second information event took place on Thursday in Burden, and quickly turned into a tense affair, with strong opinions being voiced by the residents.
The population of Erpeldange-sur-Sûre is set to increase sharply in the coming years, with or without a merger. But without joining forces with neighbouring Diekirch, Ettelbruck and Schieren, the municipality will struggle to finance the infrastructure such growth requires.
In a merged Nordstad municipality, however, the outlook could be very different. That was the main message delivered by Mayor Claude Gleis to residents.
Such a merger would provide greater financial means to the local authorities to build infrastructure, for example in the areas of education and sports. And that new infrastructure was a timely issue with the sports hall in Diekirch needing to be closed due to water damage.
"We don't know where kids from the Lycée will do their sports lessons. And as you know, the swimming pool is attached to the building so if the rain causes further damage to the pool then the kids in Diekirch wont be able to go swimming either which would be unfortunate. We're just not well set up here in the region.
I want to make this very clear: if we don’t stick together in the north, if we don’t aim to become the country’s third growth centre, we will fall behind the south and the centre,” the mayor said.
Apart from discussions on the future population growth of the municipality, it was the potential installation of a wind turbine that dominated the evening. The wind turbine, due to be installed in Burden, would be a joint venture between Nordenergie, the renewable energy company Soler, along with the municipalities of Diekirch and Ettelbruck.
The controversial installation drew in around 70 people who made their way to the A Maesch cultural centre. However, the criticism focused less on the wind turbine itself and more so on how the neighbouring municipalities had reacted to the concerns of the people of Beringen.
"There was no response, nor any indication of a willingness to compromise from the larger municipalities, which makes me think, are these the kind of politicians I want to work with, let alone elect?"
Mayor Claude Gleis admitted that the Erpeldange-sur-Sûre local council underestimated the topic in the beginning and didn't defend themselves as much as they could have. However, he equally asserted that Burden residents only raised the issue much later in the process.
The mayor's words did not land too well with attendees leading to a fiery exchange between one resident and the mayor.
The resident retorted: "I just have one thing to say Claude, to pass the buck to us..."
The mayor replied that this was not his intention, to which the resident responded: "then be honest, you messed up. End of story."
Mayor Gleis replied: "What, 7 years ago?"
The Erpeldange-sur-Sûre mayor insisted on several occasions that the project is too far developed and only the courts could stop its completion. Opponents of the wind turbine have already been overruled by the court on one issue, with two more verdicts still to come.
But the public’s verdict at Thursday’s information evening was clear, as captured on RTL’s microphone:
“I found this simply weak. Coming here, I thought I’d get some more information on the Nordstad merger, but the council leadership gave us nothing on it.”
“Typical politicians – they let everything slide and don’t address people’s problems.”
“The people were pretty outraged, which is understandable – once again about the wind turbines. I just think it’s a shame that the discussions ended up this way.”
“I feel like this evening was unnecessary. The mayor should have just used his second vote and then all of this wouldn’t have happened. Then we could have decided in 2027 how things would move forward.”
Claude Gleis reiterated during the meeting that the municipal council would accept the outcome of the referendum, no matter how close it may be.
This means that if a ‘No’ vote wins in the referendum on 23 November, Erpeldange-sur-Sûre will withdraw from the merger talks. If the ‘Yes’ camp wins, residents of the four Nordstad municipalities will be asked in 2027 whether they are in favour of a merger.
And if the main referendum does take place in 2027, there will only be a merger if there is a majority in favour in each of the four municipalities. A single ‘No’ in one municipality would be enough for the merger to fail.
