The state of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode’s finances is so abysmal that Brussels is considering placing its smallest municipality under the control of the region. The cumulative budget deficit of Saint-Josse was almost €14 million in 2024 and now stands at about €30 million just two years later. According to Brecht Warnez, a Flemish MP for CD&V and visiting professor of administrative law at Ghent University, “obvious irregularities and unwillingness” are decisive reasons for imposing compulsory supervision. “To be clear, the mayor will not be removed from office,
but he would have to follow the lead of a government commissioner,” Warnez told Bruzz. “The municipal council will then have to follow instructions and, for example, draw up a budget that is in order.” First elected in 2012, Saint-Josse mayor Emir Kir secured his third term in a re-run in 2024, after allegations of electoral fraud were confirmed. Financial woes were soon widely reported, including that the Brussels region had already arranged loans totalling €21 million, partly to guarantee the payment of municipal staff.
Belfius bank refused to grant any further overdraft facilities to the municipality. The financial lifeline from the region was accompanied by recovery measures to be overseen by the financial inspectors sent to the municipality by the then-minister for local authorities Bernard Clerfayt (Défi). Mayor Kir responded by, among other things, increasing property taxes and the cost of administrative documents. “Nothing is free any more,” he told Bruzz last October. The Council of Ministers, at the instigation of current Brussels minister for local authorities Ahmed Laaouej
(PS), will discuss seizing control of Saint-Josse this week. Such a move is said to be strongly supported within the Dilliès government by the MR party. If the government approves the guardianship, supervision would begin six months later unless the municipality turns its financial situation around within that period. Such a measure has only been implemented one other time in history, in Schaerbeek in 1976 following a scandal involving separate counters in the town hall for Dutch-speakers, French-speakers and foreigners under then-mayor Roger Nols. Clerfayt
had already taken steps towards the guardianship during his term and his successor Laaouej holds no warm feelings for mayor Kir, having booted him from the PS party after Kir invited a delegation from the Turkish far-right movement Grey Wolves to Saint-Josse. “We are simply following the administrative process initiated by Clerfayt,” said Laaouej’s spokesperson. A government memo from the office of Laaouej referred to “the numerous shortcomings of the municipality”. Kir would remain mayor under the guardianship, but would have little to no say
in the measures the region imposes. Criticism of Saint Josse’s financial situation is not new. When the region stepped in with its loan last year, the municipality itself indicated that it had ended up in “an extremely worrying financial situation” and that the payment of municipal staff was therefore at risk. In September 2025, Saint-Josse faced a liquidity shortfall of no less than €35 million, while arrears had swelled to €22 million. The municipal council of Kir could no longer even cover the monthly allocations
to the police zone and the CPAS social welfare organisation. “The shortcomings in terms of governance and institutional functioning point to a lack of internal and democratic control,” states a report, which also mentions the improper use of “municipal resources for election advertising and disputes over the elections in which a lawyer was appointed at the municipality’s expense”. The report also points to “the recurring tendency to overestimate budget revenues”. In 2024, the difference between the actual figures and the budget amounted to €11 million.
“Given the scale of these discrepancies, these overestimates appear to be clearly deliberate,” the report states. The document refers to “failure to comply with the real budget balance and the cumulative result, the overestimation of certain revenues, persistent gaps in the accounts, insufficiently controlled accounts receivable and debt management, as well as failure to comply with statutory deadlines and obligations regarding disclosure and transparency”. Kir responded by stating that the municipal council has already made significant financial efforts and asking that the issue “not be
politicised”. “The situation has changed – we have only just approved the annual accounts for 2024,” Kir said. “Instead of a deficit of €14 million, we are now at €11 million. Last week I was with my treasurer. “The information we’ve received shows that in 2025 we will not have a deficit of €16 million, but that the deficit is expected to amount to €5.35 million.” According to Kir, Saint-Josse is well on the way to having a balanced municipal budget in 2026 and his
administration implemented substantial savings. “I ask for respect for the work of my administration and for recognition of what we have achieved,” Kir said. “All our expenditure must be validated by the region. People here are acting as if I’m doing whatever I please in my municipality.”
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels region, compulsory supervision, Emir Kir, Ahmed Laaouej, Bernard Clerfayt, municipal finances, budget deficit, Belfius, liquidity shortfall, CPAS, police zone