Politics
| Party | Seats | Compared to 2006 |
|---|---|---|
| PvdA | 7 | -6 |
| CDA | 7 | 0 |
| Senioren | 5 | +2 |
| GroenLinks | 4 | -1 |
| VVD | 4 | +1 |
| D66 | 4 | +2 |
| SP | 2 | -1 |
| Stadsbelangen | 2 | 0 |
| Partij Veilig | 2 | +2 |
| CVP | 1 | +1 |
| Liberale | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 39 | – |
The municipal government of Maastricht consists of a city council, a mayor and a number of aldermen. The city council, a 39-member legislative body directly elected for four years, appoints the aldermen on the basis of a coalition agreement between two or more parties after each election. The 2006 municipal elections in the Netherlands were, as often, dominated by national politics and led to a shift from right to left throughout the country. In Maastricht, the traditional broad governing coalition of Christian Democrats (CDA), Labour (PvdA), Greens (GreenLeft) and Liberals (VVD) was replaced by a centre-left coalition of Labour, Christian Democrats and Greens. Two Labour aldermen were appointed, along with one Christian Democrat and one Green alderman. Due to internal disagreements, one of the VVD council members left the party in 2005 and formed a new liberal group in 2006 (Liberalen Maastricht). The other opposition parties in the current city council are the Socialist Party (SP), the Democrats (D66) and two local parties (Stadsbelangen Mestreech (SBM) and the Seniorenpartij).
The aldermen and the mayor make up the executive branch of the municipal government. The current mayor of Maastricht is Onno Hoes, a Liberal (VVD), who was appointed after the popular previous mayor, Gerd Leers (CDA), decided to step down in January 2010 following the 'Bulgarian Villa' affair.
One controversial issue which has characterized Maastricht politics for years and which has also affected national and even international politics, is the city's approach to soft drug policy. Under the pragmatic Dutch soft drug policy, a policy of non-enforcement, individuals may buy and use cannabis from 'coffeeshops' (cannabis bars) under certain conditions. Maastricht, like many other border towns, has seen a growing influx of 'drug tourists', mainly young people from Belgium, France and Germany, who provide a large amount of revenue for the coffeeshops in the city centre. The city government, most notably ex-mayor Leers, have been actively promoting drug policy reform in order to deal with its negative side effects.
Under one of the latest proposals, known as the 'Coffee Corner Plan' and proposed by then-mayor Leers, the city council unanimously voted in November 2008 to relocate most of its coffeeshops from the city centre to the edge of town, where the sale and use of cannabis can more easily be monitored. The purpose of this plan was to reduce the impact of drug tourism on the city centre, such as parking problems and the more serious issue of the illegal sale of hard drugs in the vicinity of the coffeeshops. The Coffee Corner Plan, however, has met with fierce opposition from neighbouring municipalities and from national government, where the Christian Democrats take a notably more conservative approach to soft drugs than their local party and mayor. Bordering towns and the federal government in Belgium have also opposed the city's policy, citing Maastricht's plan to move the coffeeshops towards the Belgian borders as a violation of European law. The plan has been the subject of various legal challenges and has not yet been carried out.
Read more about this topic: Maastricht
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Politics is not an end, but a means. It is not a product, but a process. It is the art of government. Like other values it has its counterfeits. So much emphasis has been placed upon the false that the significance of the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere service.”
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