Antwerp lets citizens vote on how to spend €1 million
Amount represents about 10% of annual budget and is thought to be largest project in the Low Countries
190,000 residents to have say
Similar pilot projects have been launched in Kortrijk and Genk, but this is said to be the largest project of this kind ever launched in the Low Countries. It will have an impact on the old centre where most of the city’s museums, theatres and historic buildings are.
“The days are over when a politician was a cultivated, well-educated man who ran the community from on high,” says alderman Willem-Frederik Schiltz of the Flemish liberal party Open VLD. “People now thankfully want to have a share of the power.”
Schiltz, who is in charge of citizen participation, argues that politicians are afraid of handing over power to citizens. “But this is misguided,” he says. “By handing over a little power, you gain a huge amount of legitimacy. Otherwise you end up with everything being decided by the loudest voices and the ones who complain.”
