Ganshoren: good transparency for a small municipality

A small municipality with good practices

Ganshoren is a small municipality of 25,500 inhabitants led by Jean-Paul Van Laethem (Les Engagés) in coalition with the PS. Despite its modest size, it achieves a good transparency score.

Transparency: 5 out of 6 criteria

The budget and council minutes (dedicated page with agendas) are published online, the council is broadcast via livestream (YouTube and social media since 2020), the mandate registry is accessible, and the municipality uses Fluicity for citizen participation with a participatory budget. No Open Data portal.

Citizen participation: Fluicity

Ganshoren launched its citizen participation platform via Fluicity, including a participatory budget allowing residents to propose and vote on municipal projects.

Budget tensions and political conflict

The property tax was raised by 20% (3,240 → 3,880 additional centimes). This increase provoked the anger of the opposition: Open-MR councillors walked out of the municipal council, calling the majority "dictators". Paid parking has been extended to new neighbourhoods.