22h01 – In Wallonia, communes and CPAS will be able to develop their synergies

The Walloon majority – only present at the plenary session of the Parliament of Wallonia Tuesday evening after the opposition had left the institution because of its opposition to the program decree – approved the The aim of these texts, carried by Minister Valérie De Bue (MR) and already approved by the Walloon government on March 29, is to develop a framework to facilitate synergies, "by targeting both economies of scale and the performance of the administration, with a view to good local governance," the minister told the committee. In this context, the municipalities will be particularly encouraged to operate internal and external mergers, which may lead to the creation of common support services (IT services, purchasing and maintenance services, human resources, etc.) between municipalities, CPAS and communal boards. Municipalities and CPAS will also be able to appoint a joint deputy director-general to lead some of the pooled services. They will also have to adopt a cross-cutting strategic program that is clean and concerted, a system already applied today in 24 pilot towns. Last June, visiting Braine-l'Alleud – one of these pilot municipalities – Minister De Bue stressed that this decree allowed to push far the synergies on a voluntary basis without talking about a merger, such an operation being the competence of the federal authorities. (Belga)

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