The largest municipality in Flanders also gets the longest name in the country and is the target of ridicule on the Internet

The merged municipality of Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht will not only become the largest municipality in Flanders by area, but also the city with the longest name. With no less than 28 letters, a record was set not only in Flemish, but also in Belgian. It causes a lot of ridicule on the Internet. It is clear that none of the three municipalities is ready for a similar merger.”

On Thursday evening, the municipal council in Zwiendrecht rejected the name of the new merger Beverin Vas. Since there must be consensus between the three municipalities, the name may be permanently shelved immediately. The merger steering committee met today to discuss the disaster. According to Chairman Antoine Dennert, there will be no new search for the name. The municipal councils in Kroipke and Beveren will also consider choosing a name next week, but that will only be symbolic. Vlaams Belang has already announced that he will also vote against it in Beveren and Kruibeke. The merged municipality will now continue with the original working title “Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht”.

What name do you think the amalgamated municipality should be called?

Beverine S (29%)
Scheldt fog (43%)
Beverin-Kroepke-Zweigendrecht (5%)
Other name (23%)

With this name a number of records were immediately broken. Until now, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve was the longest municipal name in Belgium at 26 letters, but Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht is still better at two letters. And in Flanders, the record was broken with fingers in the nose because this dubious title has so far been shared between Scherpenheuvel-Zetsheim and Langemarck-Polkapelle by only 21 letters.

There are already a lot of memes popping up online that make fun of the entire series surrounding the name choice. It is clear that the policy has not achieved good results here. The citizens' movement Hart voor Zwijndrecht believes this is the ideal moment to stop the merger completely immediately. She said: “The conclusion is clear, which is that none of the three municipalities is ready for a similar merger.”