2023-10-07 05:00:00
A bitter debate awaits Molenbeek. The question also cost the holding of the municipal council this Wednesday, when the majority did not ensure a quorum. The opposition had proposed removing the thorny issue of recovering citizens’ debts from the agenda, but the PS-MR coalition refused the deal, the opposition municipal councilors therefore left the room, thus putting an end to to the debate.
For the second time in two weeks, no quorum for the Molenbeek municipal council
But what can the debates of the Molenbeek councilors be so animated at a point where the leader of the socialists, Khalil Boufraquech, threatens to take his opponent Ahmed El Khannouss to court for defamation? The last city published, on September 25, a post on Facebook where he affirmed that “the mayor wants to send bailiffs to hundreds of families who have debts ranging from 0.50 cent to +-200 euros for daycares !”
The heart and the signal
In reality, the neo-leader of Molenbeek Otherwise refers to a regulation that the Alderman of Finance, Georges Van Leeckwyck (MR), introduced aimed at recovering the debts that Molenbeek citizens have with the municipality. “In schools or community daycares, there are canteens, sometimes outings. Each month, parents receive the bill for these services. There are then three reminders which are sent via the child’s school bag, the management or teachers can also contact the parents. Please note that for the public registered with the CPAS, Ukrainians or others, we do not claim the money. Other parents also make arrangements with the school. But there is still a percentage of people who owe money to the municipality.” They then receive two reminders from the municipality, one of which is by registered letter.
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Then comes the controversial point. For these parents who are slightly in debt, the majority in Molenbeek plan to claim the amount via bailiffs. “We don’t do it cheerfully,” admits van Leecwyck, “but not doing it is sending the wrong signal.” The innovation, compared to the previous majority which had adopted a similar regulation, is that the bailiffs will only be sent after a social investigation ensuring that the parents are able to pay. “We are going to make families who do not have financial problems pay their dues,” explains Mayor Catherine Moureaux (PS), “not those in difficulty. It’s a question of social justice.”
Find the money where it is
In fact, Molenbeek will not send bailiffs for people with debts of less than 100 euros. So where does Ahmed El Khannouss’ figure of 50 centimes come from? “In a document provided by the College containing the list of people liable, some had a debt of 50 cents,” justifies the opposition advisor, who notes that the largest debt amounted to 221 euros. “In total, all of these debts represent 6,000 euros. While there are sports club debts worth 600,000 euros.” For him, Molenbeek is therefore going to get the money in the wrong place. “The municipality has open debts of 130 million euros. In another case, a man owes 16,000 euros to the municipality, and Catherine Moureaux wants to relieve him.”
For information, 580 families are in debt to the commune of Moulins, but only 31 are in debt above 100 euros, and therefore concerned by the point.
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If the opposition proposed to remove this item from the agenda last Wednesday, it is because it is unanimously opposed to the majority’s project. “There are hundreds of thousands of euros in taxes owed by real estate developers to the municipality, they went to court, Molenbeek did not even go to appeal,” complains Dirk De Block (PTB), who pleads more for a removal of the services concerned for families who do not pay their debts and who we know, after a social survey, that they nevertheless have the means. “But we don’t push people down with bailiffs.” An observation shared by Emre Sumlu, leader of the environmentalists. “If people are in debt, it is not a solution to send bailiffs”, especially since the latter’s costs will inflate the bill. “There is the rule and the spirit. There are other arrears for which the government is asking the municipality to intervene, but I don’t think it will go after them.”
The point has therefore not yet been approved, but the next municipal council should take care of it. Molenbeek will therefore send bailiffs to parents in debt of more than 100 euros. “We could do this monitoring with municipal services,” admits the Finance Alderman, but the municipality does not seem to have such means to ensure this. Another solution would be to make these services free, as the majority agreement seeks. “It would be untenable from a budgetary perspective tomorrow,” says a socialist source within the College. The 2024 budget is approaching, “and it’s a bad idea,” concedes Georges Van Leeckwyck.
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