2023-08-22 05:03:00
On Friday, the mayors of the municipalities of the arrondissement of Arlon (Arlon, Messancy, Attert, Martelange and Aubange) met with the management of Vivalia, Pascal Mertens, general manager, Yves Planchard, chairman of the board of directors and Dr Vincent Delrue, medical director, under the chairmanship and on the initiative of the provincial governor Olivier Schmitz. A meeting that the management of Vivalia had also scheduled for the start of the school year as well as with all the municipalities concerned by a polyclinic.
At the end of this meeting, the Governor’s office issued a press release evoking the will of the participants to renew the dialogue within the framework of the Vivalia 2025 file. The press release mentions “several points of divergence, but a common concern to offer quality health care in Luxembourg”.
Without Josy Arens, the mayor of Attert
Were it not for the fact that they met, this press release does not say much more. The parties are invited to observe discretion on the content of their exchanges, in order to serenely carry out reflections which could unblock the file.
We will not recall the fight of the municipalities in the south of the province against the Houdemont hospital and its location.
All the mayors of the arrondissement of Arlon were present with the exception of Josy Arens, deputy mayor of Attert, excused and who put forward his thoughts in writing. Martelange attended the meeting by videoconference.
Not in current clinic
What is at stake in these negotiations and what did they say to each other? Vivalia’s management presented the local care offer in the future polyclinics, now called local health centers, in terms of outpatient care and consultations, for example. In the municipalities where they are planned, all these centers are envisaged in the same mold of care offers, a framework provided for by the texts.
And it is here that the meeting was particularly aimed at the mayors of the South, since Vivalia let them know that it was ready to consider a more ambitious project for Arlon, a project yet to be defined. This proposal, which the people of Arlon were hearing for the first time, did not immediately garner the expected enthusiasm. Firstly because this project remains vague and lacks consistency, but also because this center would be envisaged in a new location and not in the buildings of the current clinic.
Is it possible to find an agreement before September 20?
The mayor of Arlon Vincent Magnus has always considered that the premises of the clinic could be perfectly suitable. During this consultation meeting, the people of Arlon reaffirmed their attachment to the current infrastructure.
The two parties are showing good will in the search for an agreement, but the positions remain quite distant for the moment. But time is running out. If Arlon wishes to lodge his appeal with the Council of State following the granting of the single permit for the construction of the new hospital in Houdemont by Ministers Borsus (MR) and Tellier (Écolo), he must do so before 20 september. An appeal which could oblige Vivalia to re-examine other avenues for setting up the new hospital, if the Council of State considers that this has not been done, or in any case not enough.
A remedy like a gun to the head
One can imagine the delay that such a stop would cause. It would be better for management to avoid this pitfall and find common ground with the communes of the South.
Will this deadline speed up the reflection? Is it the ideal shooting window? The ball is in both camps at the same time. For Arlon, the time has come to afford a gem of a polyclinic, with specialized hospital care, or even extra-hospital care or a unique specialization. For Vivalia, this is an opportunity to finally put an end to the Arlon fight.
If there was no agreement by then, Arlon will he not be tempted to file his appeal like a weapon at the head of the management, even if it means withdrawing it as soon as an agreement is reached? Would negotiations be weakened?
The parties will meet again on September 1.
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