Mark Demesmaeker becomes a Member of the European Parliament

Mark Demesmaeker (N-VA) is becoming an MEP, succedding Frieda Brepoels. Brepoels was elected mayor of Bilzen and decided to not combine this mandate with that of a Member of the European Parliament. Demesmaeker says: “I believe in a European project that has respect for a diversity of languages and cultures, for the identity of each national community, and for real Subsidiarity A principle that states that the lowest possible level at which a government is (still) effective is the most appropriate level from which to govern. It is for this reason that only the powers that a lower authority cannot exercise or cannot exercise well are allocated to a centralised or higher authority, and vice versa. The idea behind this is that political decisions are best made and executed as closely to the citizens as possible. subsidiarity . Living as I do in the Vlaamse Rand, the Flemish periphery around Brussels, I have always upheld the position of the Dutch language and of green open spaces… I shall continue this work at a different level in Europe. Europe is also headed for great challenges. We will only emerge from the crisis if budgetary discipline is maintained everywhere and if, at the same time, European recommendations on structural reforms are implemented. Because you can only build an economy and a monetary union ensuring growth, affluence and wellbeing on healthy foundations.