I don’t think this is a good idea. Zwijndrecht is part of the Antwerp metropolitan area. Lies very close to Antwerp and is even connected with the tram to the City of Antwerp. Also, the province of Antwerp already invested a lot of money in Zwijndrecht to update its infrastructure. It’s part of the Antwerp metropolitan area.

There is no benefit to join East Flanders. A weird move. A weird proposal.

And also, what is the problem of those villages lying close to the city? They want to use the infrastructure of the city, but don’t want to pay a single penny for it. Also on the east side of Antwerp, Wommelgem and Wijnegem are refusing to even consider to work together with Antwerp.

It’s 2023. To change things, politicians need to abandon there ‘*kerktorenpolitiek*’. Modal shift and metropolitan policies don’t stop at the border of a local council. We need a larger area to join. Otherwise it doesn’t work. It’s a BAD idea for Zwijndrecht to join East Flanders.

[https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2023/02/20/zwijndrecht-soon-to-rejoin-east-flanders/](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2023/02/20/zwijndrecht-soon-to-rejoin-east-flanders/)

8 comments

  1. Antwerp is certainly financed by Zwijndrecht, Wommelgem and Wijnegem, see:

    [https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20190307_04238575](https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20190307_04238575)

    Don’t misunderstand what i’m saying: Antwerp, Gent etc SHOULD receive more funds from the Gemeentefonds than average, but it’s just a bit simplistic to say they don’t pay.

  2. The changes i’ve heard that are probably comming ; no buzzypas on the cheap for zw anymore, the speelpleinen (youthcamp in vakation) will be more expensive, organisations who want to request to rent stuff will have to pay A Lot more for fences or to rent the sporthall…, The whole 3Mthing will be dismissed because all promises that 3m have made now are towards zw and they will probably claim that zw changed the deal by changing their borders…
    Source; they are already testing things internally

  3. This has more to do with them wanting to join a larger Waasland municipality. The province on itself hardly matters.

    In theory I agree that some border municipaliies should join the city in order to share the burden more fairly. In practice I´m against, since that would mean even more suburban/anti urban voter preferences dominating. Fuck that. If they want to live in a car dependent hell hole without any service nearby, they can keep it.

  5. You are confusing many things.

    It’s not abnormal that smaller towns do not want to cooperate closely with a city like Antwerp. It would mean they will become just another hamlet among the many, and they will not have their priorities met because the city of Antwerp cares about the city, and that’s about it. Zwijndrecht having a left wing coalition, means their priorities will differ even more from the very right wing policies of BDW.

    There is even a tendency in which smaller cities join up, to avoid being absorbed into the closest larger city.

    So it would seem like a GOOD idea for Zwijndrecht to distance themselves from Antwerp. And I assume the people living there mostly agree.

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