Procedure of questioning the City Council

Each citizen is given the opportunity to ask questions to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen during a public meeting of the City Council.

This procedure is planned in the municipal regulation of the City Council.

The interpellation allows the citizen to obtain direct information or explanations about matters of municipal interest. The citizen can thus draw the attention of the responsible politicians to these subjects.

The interpellation must be based on at least 20 people who are at least 16 years old and who are registered in the population registers of the City. It can only relate to topics of general interest.

Are inadmissible, interpellations/questions:

  • on subjects of private interest only or on personal cases
  • on topics that may not be discussed in public meetings by law
  • on a subject already on the agenda of a Council meeting
  • on subjects that have already been addressed in an interpellation in the last 3 months
  • that violate human rights or that are racist or xenophobic in nature
  • which are exclusively aimed at obtaining statistical data
  • that are solely aimed at obtaining documentation
  • that are only intended to obtain legal advice
  • that oblige to carry out costly studies or searches, to prepare databases or to conduct surveys
  • which are intended to know the personal intentions of the members of the Board

To be declared admissible, the application must meet the following conditions:

  • be written in French or Dutch
  • state the name, first name, address and telephone number of the applicant and the identity of the person(s) who will speak at the hearing
  • the subject of the interpellation must be clearly defined, with a summary of the ideas to be outlined
  • contain 20 signatures from residents of the City who support the interpellation request
  • mention the identity, address and date of birth of the 20 people who support the interpellation request, so that it can be checked whether these people are registered in the population registers and meet the age requirement

To be included on the agenda of a specific Council meeting:

  • the interpellation request must be received at the municipal secretariat 15 days before the session
  • If this is not the case, the President of the Council may decide to put the request on the agenda for the first session that follows.

No interpellations are heard by the City Council in a period of 60 days prior to elections. This applies to both municipal elections and federal, regional or European elections.

A maximum of 3 interpellations may be entered on the agenda of the same meeting.

Anyone who wishes to make use of this right must request this in writing in advance.

The request addressed to the City Council is forwarded to the municipal secretariat.

The application can be done by post, e-mail or submission at Brucity:

The municipal secretary submits the request to the President of the City Council and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

If the answer is positive, the President of the Council places the admissible interpellation on the agenda of the public meeting of the City Council. The applicant is then invited to this meeting to present the interpellation.

In the event of a negative decision, the applicant will be informed of the refusal.

The presentation of the interpellation takes place at the start of the public session.

The questioner's speaking time is limited to 5 minutes. He only addresses the President.

The oral explanation is formulated by the person who was designated as the spokesperson in the request. It may not fundamentally deviate from the content of the summary that was enclosed with the application.

After the Board's answer, the questioner still has 2 minutes to answer this.

The Council members may not intervene during the interpellation. There is no debate.