The supervision and financing of municipalities

On 1st June 2004 the communitarian Parliament approved the draft decree that foresees the transfer of the communal supervision and financing from the Walloon region to the German-speaking Community. The Walloon regional Parliament situated in Namur had already consented to it on 12th May 2004.

Owing to this transfer of competencies, the amount of money that has been sent from Namur to Eupen adds up to approximately 17.2 million euro per year.

Town hall of St. Vith

Article one of the decree is devoted to the details of the transfer of competencies. More accurately, the competencies of the German-speaking Community as for the communal supervision and financing concern:

• Church councils and facilities set up by state-recognized religions that are put in charge of property management;
• Burials and burial places;
• The financing of the municipalities, including a special fund for the social aid;
• The management of subsidized projects of work carried out by municipalities, by administration facilities for ecclesiastic properties and by legal persons as well as the property management for the non-confessional practices;
• The organisation and the exercise of the administrative supervision of the municipalities and the police areas.