City of Brussels: pioneer of municipal transparency

The most populated and most transparent municipality

The City of Brussels is the capital municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region and the most populated of the 19 municipalities, with nearly 200,000 inhabitants spread across a territory of 33 km² encompassing the historic Pentagon, Laeken, Neder-Over-Heembeek, and Haren.

In terms of transparency, the City of Brussels stands as a pioneer among Brussels municipalities. It meets all six BGM monitoring criteria.

Open Data: a portal since 2014

The City of Brussels has had an active Open Data portal since 2014, among the first in Belgium at the municipal level. The portal offers datasets on mobility, urban planning, demographics, and municipal finances in exploitable formats (CSV, JSON, API).

Citizen participation: faireBXLsamen

The faireBXLsamen platform ("making Brussels together") allows residents to propose, debate, and vote on municipal projects. Participatory budgets, consultations on urban planning, and citizen interpellations are accessible online. More than 100 projects have been submitted since its launch.

Municipal council livestream

Municipal council sessions are broadcast via livestream on YouTube, and minutes are published in full online. Video archives go back several years.

Digital communication

In November 2024, the City of Brussels decided to leave X/Twitter, refocusing its communication on official channels (website, newsletter, institutional social media). This decision, motivated by the degradation of the platform, makes the City of Brussels one of the first Belgian administrations to take this step.

Recent municipal decisions

Removal of road occupation tax for solar panels (December 2025)

The municipal council voted in December 2025 to remove the Temporary Road Occupation Tax (OTVP) for the installation of photovoltaic panels (limit: 5 m², maximum 2 working days). The City of Brussels is the first Brussels municipality to adopt this incentive measure.

Terrace plan: regulation of terraces in the pedestrian zone (January 2026)

A police ordinance by the aldermen's college (late January 2026) bans terraces and market stalls on Stoofstraat (Lombardstraat — Eikstraat section, Grand-Place — Manneken Pis axis) for safety and pedestrian flow reasons. A comprehensive plan to regulate the 900 terraces across the municipality is being prepared, focusing on the pedestrian zone, the Grand-Place and the Grasmarkt. The approach involves consultation with the hospitality sector.

College reshuffle (11 March 2026)

Mayor Philippe Close announced on 11 March 2026 a partial reshuffle of the college of mayor and aldermen:

• Khalid Zian (PS, former CPAS president) returns to the college — responsibilities: Public Works and International Solidarity (shared mandate with Karim Tafranti, who becomes alderman end of 2028)
• Nawal Ben Hamou (PS) takes over Culture (previously managed by Philippe Close)
• Anaïs Maes (Vooruit) cedes Public Works but retains Mobility, Urban Planning and Dutch-language Education

Source: La Libre, 11 March 2026.