Two mayors of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) were removed from office: Carole Weigel in Wiltz and Jill Goeres in Bech. In both municipalities, a majority of the council adopted a vote of no confidence against the respective mayoral council. While a new mayoral council is already in place in Wiltz, the political outlook in Bech is, by contrast, far less certain.
With the shift to a majority between the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Democratic Party (DP), Wiltz has moved from a CSV-DP coalition to a “red–blue” one.
As only three parties, namely the LSAP, CSV, and DP, sit on the council, the possible combinations were limited. The new mayor is Patrick Comes of the LSAP, who ran on the CSV list but only recently joined the LSAP. He said his objective was above all to look forward rather than backwards.
He explained that the aim now was to rebuild cooperation in the interest of Wiltz as a whole, stressing that everyone should be brought on board rather than creating divisions.
Asked about the political priorities for the remainder of the term, Comes declined to go into detail and pointed to the forthcoming statement by the mayoral council, which will be delivered at the next council meeting.
Until he is formally sworn in, Weigel of the CSV continues to perform the duties of mayor. In her view, her successor will have limited room to manoeuvre. She noted that the previous majority had already prepared the first draft budget and that, given the financial constraints, the new budget could not differ greatly. Large-scale projects, she added, are already underway and must continue if the town is to function properly, meaning the main priorities are already effectively set.
The new mayoral council also includes Maurice Muller (DP) and Michael Schenk (LSAP).
In the municipality of Bech, which elects its representatives under a majoritarian system as opposed to proportional lists, it is not yet known who will sit on the new mayoral council.
The pool of candidates is small: of the five councillors who supported the vote of no confidence, Emile Bohnenberger told us three weeks ago that he did not wish to join the mayoral council. Next in line is Max Pesch, who has until now acted as the main spokesperson for the opposition and is expected to become mayor.
Pesch outlined several priorities, such as the need for stronger action on municipal housing, an area where he believes the municipality has considerable untapped potential, as well as ongoing traffic problems which, in his view, had not been addressed with sufficient ambition. These, he said, should be tackled as a matter of priority.
Pesch also wants to see a more constructive atmosphere in the municipal council. That may be helped by the fact that the outgoing mayor, Jill Goeres, and the outgoing alderwoman Nathalie Wohlfart plan to step down entirely from the council. As a result, complementary elections will take place next year.
Goeres sees this as an opportunity. She said it offers a positive chance for two new, motivated people to enter the council and contribute to new projects for the municipality.
Looking back on her own term, she said she was proud of the work achieved and would leave with a clear conscience, ready to move on.
The new mayoral council in Bech will be elected behind closed doors on 12 January at 6pm.
