Tomorrow we will be in Tournai for the launch of the New Year's Greetings tour. This is the ideal opportunity to introduce you to the new Mayor of the City of Five Belfries, Marie Christine Marghem. She was directly elected as a municipal councillor of the city of Tournai during her first participation in 1994. A year that marked the start of an uninterrupted and thrilling political career. From the presidency of the MCC to the federal Ministry of Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, Marie Christine has worked tirelessly and achieved her primary goal: becoming mayor of her city.
What lessons do you draw from a political career like yours?
You could say it's like a great journey that allows you to explore and gain a deep understanding of many realities and all the areas of power in Belgium. I have forged unique experience there, alongside the legal profession which I still practise to this day, and the many battles fought were matched only by the variety of professional contacts and the richness of the encounters I was fortunate to have throughout this extraordinary path.
Despite your battles and your commitment at other levels of power, you never stopped fighting for your city. Your streets. Your cobblestones. What did you feel when signing the coalition agreement, knowing you would become Mayor of your city?
An indescribable joy, that of reconnecting daily with my roots and with those, deep-seated, of a two-thousand-year-old history that, at the fall of the Roman Empire, made Tournai the capital of the Franks.
Your term has only just begun, and yet the Marghem mark is already felt in the running of the city. From the gorilla statue in the municipal park to the letters in front of the town hall, you are sending the people of Tournai a signal of change. What goals do you want to pursue during this first term as Mayor?
Beyond these detailed signals, I want to restore Tournai's identity, appeal and beauty: essential conditions for restoring order, restarting the virtuous cycle of activity, and ensuring everyone can find their rightful place in our society and on our territory. With three guiding principles, rigour, method and humanity, I am at the service of my fellow citizens, who, I hear, deeply desire this change, this breath of fresh air. So I have been working on every issue since 14 October with a solid and fully committed team, a dynamic and talented executive board, and an administration we know we can rely on.
You know your city like no one else, you were born there, grew up there, and have always lived there. As a city of art and culture, what would you recommend to a visitor to Tournai?
I would advise every visitor to start with the Cathedral, one of the largest in Europe, whose remarkable treasury would make many other prestigious places of worship pale with envy. It is the only religious building in Belgium that was built as a cathedral. This masterpiece of Scheldt Gothic architecture is listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, as is, just a few steps away, our Belfry, the oldest in Belgium, also worth visiting; then, after a light snack on the Grand Place with its splendid Cloth Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts built by Victor Horta with its Manet paintings, the Museum of Natural History, the Tapestry Museum and many other treasures to discover, among which is undoubtedly a stroll through our small cobbled streets or along the Scheldt, where I was born.