Vichten’s initial proposal was to combine with Bissen; however, that municipality said it would prefer to join up with the neighbouring municipality of Colmar-Berg. However, the latter have been dragging their feet, leading to all fusions plans to be scrapped.
In comments made to the Tageblatt newspaper last week, and verified by RTL, Colmar-Berg mayor Mandy Arendt said the council did not wholly oppose the merger, but that it was highly unlikely to take place in the current legislative period. Arendt said a number of details would have to be clarified before pushing on with the venture, including a survey of local residents to see if they would even approve a merger. The mayor said she believed Colmar-Berg should hold a referendum on the matter prior to taking any further steps, although such a referendum is unusual in practice. This could be explained by the fact that Arendt herself is sceptical over the benefits provided by a municipal merger.
“I think Colmar-Berg could risk losing its identity through a municipal fusion. We don’t even know what the potential name would be for the merged municipality, whether it would be something like ‘Col-Bi’. But I think we just need to ask residents what they think, because we can’t just go ahead with it and make a decision that might cause unhappiness within the community. Especially if people say, Colmar-Berg functioned just fine before, but now we have to drive to Bissen in order to carry out municipal matters.”
Bissen mayor David Viaggi expressed surprise at the reticence displayed by Colmar-Berg towards the proposed merger, and said the previous council had shown far more positive signals. He said he was under the impression that a member of the current council had initially favoured the merger, but had since switched sides to agree with Arendt. But Colmar-Berg’s reluctance means a potential merger with Vichten is now no longer on the cards for Bissen, Viaggi says.
“I was very clear from the outset that we were open to a merger, and we joined all the appropriate discussions and stages towards that end. But I was also very clear that in my eyes, Colmar-Berg should belong to such a merger,” he said.
Luc Recken, mayor of Vichten, expressed that Viaggi had not accounted for what might happen if Colmar-Berg declined the proposal. However, if the merger with Bissen does not materialise, Vichten would be open to merging with another neighbouring council. Finances would not play a role here, Recken argued.
“Financially, we are dependent on no one. We have our municipal budgets under control. Our per capita debt is under €2,000 at the moment. Many people seem to think we are making these proposals because of the money, but I can assure you that is not the case,” Recken said.
However, Vichten’s list of potential partners is dwindling. Mertzig has already declined a potential merger. That leaves the municipalities of Grosbous-Wahl, Preizerdaul, Useldange and Helperknapp.
