Who will lead the municipality of Bech in future? After the municipal budget was rejected by five votes to four on Wednesday, the question has become key, as members of the council proposed a vote of no confidence in the council leaders, which is likely to pass over the coming weeks.
Mayor Jill Goeres said she was only mildly surprised by the council outrage, as there had been issues ongoing between herself and councillor Emile Bohnenberger for months. Bohnenberger was initially part of the majority after the local elections, but opted to switch sides to the opposition.
“He threatened to switch sides all year if I didn’t fulfil certain conditions. The whole thing feels very personal as I announced my pregnancy in the spring, gave birth two months ago, and even before I gave birth he was saying that women shouldn’t hold political office if they become mothers, but instead should stay home with the child.”Mayor Jill Goeres
Bohnenberger rejects the accusations, calling them lies. He said he had never made the comments and had no issue with mothers holding political roles. Instead he complained he felt pushed aside as the new aldermen hadn’t included him in their work, despite his years of experience as an alderman himself.
He also said Goeres had not done a good job as mayor even before her pregnancy.
“I was told from all sides that Madame Goeres had not been very present. The main issue was with our school syndicate, it’s our largest syndicate with two schools in Berbourg, and the syndicate president told me there hadn’t been any Bech representation. It went so far that the municipality of Manternach threatened to leave the syndicate.”Councillor Emile Bohnenberger
Bohnenberger added that he would take legal action against Goeres if she continued to claim he targeted her due to her pregnancy. He also does not wish to be part of a new council of aldermen. Max Pesch, speaker for the opposition, did not want to comment on how things should proceed in terms of local representatives.
He said there needed to be talks with the whole council, and hoped that in future they could work together constructively instead of having five to four votes. Goeres added that she was ready to support any solution in the community’s best interests.
