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Interview with Joris Nachtergaele, Mayor of Maarkedal
Joris Nachtergaele is a Belgian politician, serving as mayor of Maarkedal since 2016, deputy of the Flemish parliament and a member of the European Committee of the Regions. He was among the founders of N-VA back in 2001 and since 2006 he has been active at the local level in his hometown Maarkedal.
Maarkedal is a beautiful rural community with over 6,000 inhabitants. Our municipality has a number of touristic assets.
We are the heart of cycling tourism in Flanders with the typical cobblestones as public favourite and we have beautiful landscapes and views. An example is my favourite spot in Maarkedal: at the Bossenaere mill, close to the famous Taaienberg (part of the Tour of Flanders) one has a great 360° view on Maarkedal.
There are, of course, various topics, but the most important one is putting the quality of life in the Flemish countryside on the agenda of our parliament. The countryside is often forgotten when it comes to investments, and many voices are raised in favour of living in the city.
People also live in the countryside and we live well here. Nevertheless, we also have many challenges, such as infrastructure, an ageing population and climate challenges. I want to strive for equal treatment between the urban dweller and the rural dweller.
I got 7,958 votes. In my own garden, the first trees were planted in the autumn of 2019: 1624 trees.
I also invested in a nature project, which resulted in the planting of 855 trees. As a result, the current figure is 2,529. There are a number of plans in the pipeline for the planting of the next 5,000 trees, including the organisation of a tree-planting campaign for the entire community.
A few points from the Maarkedal administrative agreement on greenery and energy efficiency:
In rural areas, social cohesion is under pressure. Many social meeting centres are disappearing because of economic reality.
Pubs are closing because of the small community and as a result, our social associations no longer have a place to meet. De Maalzaak will be multifunctional and will become the centre of the municipality for sport, culture, youth, etc. Very soon, this project will be started.
I don't feel comfortable choosing one of these mandates. On the contrary, the combination of the three provides more input from different environments, more insight into the visions that exist and a better and substantiated opinion/policy as a politician. I take my baggage from the other mandates with me at each level, which makes me feel comfortable at every level.
Local: stimulating the social cohesion of my community. Corona shows us how important our social life as a human being is. I will focus on the support of our community life on financial and policy level.
In Flemish Parliament: I will focus on the quality of life of the rural communities of the Flemish countryside and on transcending the so-called contradiction between agriculture and the environment.
CoR: Important consultative platform to bring different best practices back to Maarkedal locally and to better understand each other's views under the adage 'unity in diversity'.
What are the reasons for that and are there any possible solutions for that problem?
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