It was a hilarious scene: mayor Hoes left the building,
10 December 2014, resigned from office. The next day he was back and reinstated himself for another six months. Without even a hint
of hesitation he said that ''this is best for the city''. Courtesy of
the Interior Minister, who gave Hoes the green
light.
Fast Forward. Thursday April 23th 2015.
The City Council Selection Committee announces the new mayor. Ceremony begins at 8:30 p.m. The L1 anchor opens with a surprise: ”there is a delay, a ‘quarrel’ has arisen at City Hall”.
”Around 9 p.m.”, as Annemarie Penn testifies in this Elsevier article, ”I got the phone call from the Committee Chairwoman, ‘may I congratulate you’ ”. As if it were some kind of Oscar Night where the contestants are waiting for the magic moment; and the winner is…
The media introduced Penn as a candidate two days before the announcement. Top favourite Roger Van Boxtel miraculously ended up in the bin. He likely wasn’t qualified for the job at hand: defending the heritage of St. Servatius, a job Penn had done so well in the past.
Interior Minister Plasterk – in the picture below partying with the Maastricht Templars – didn’t ask any questions, installed her into office July 1st 2015.
