Oudsbergen

Oudsbergen
Municipality
Commandery of Gruitrode
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Oudsbergen
Oudsbergen Location in Belgium Location of Oudsbergen in Limburg
Coordinates: 51.0866°N 5.5885°E / 51.0866; 5.5885
Country	Belgium
Community	Flemish Community
Region	Flemish Region
Province	Limburg
Arrondissement	Maaseik
Government
• Mayor	Marco Goossens (CD&V)
• Governing party/ies	CD&V
Area
• Total	116.37 km2 (44.93 sq mi)
Population  (2022-01-01)
• Total	23,611
• Density	200/km2 (530/sq mi)
Postal codes	3660, 3670
NIS code	72042
Area codes	011, 089
Website	oudsbergen.be

Oudsbergen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʌutsˌbɛrɣə(n)]; Limburgish: Audsberge [ˈawtsbæʀ(ə)ɣə]) is a municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg that arose on 1 January 2019 from the merging of the municipalities of Opglabbeek and Meeuwen-Gruitrode.

The merged municipality has an area of 116.24 km² and a population of 23,520 people in 2021.

Creation

See also: Fusion of the Belgian municipalities

The Flemish Government provides incentives for municipalities to voluntarily merge. The municipal councils of Opglabbeek and Meeuwen-Gruitrode approved a merge in principle in November 2016. Definitive approval occurred on 26 June 2017, which was ratified by Flemish decree of 4 May 2018 alongside several other merges, all to be effective per 1 January 2019.

As of 1 January 2018, the municipality of Opglabbeek had a population of 10,332 and Meeuwen-Gruitrode a population of 13,091.

Government

The first elections for the new municipality were held during the regular local elections of 14 October 2018, electing a municipal council for the legislative period of 2019–2024. CD&V obtained a majority of seats in the municipal council (17 out of 27). Lode Ceyssens, who was mayor of Meeuwen-Gruitrode until then, became mayor of Oudsbergen.

External links

• Official site (in Dutch)

Media related to Oudsbergen at Wikimedia Commons