Moerbeke () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

. It is sometimes unofficially called Moerbeke-Waas () to distinguish between this place and in

Geraardsbergen Geraardsbergen (; french: Grammont, ) is a city and municipality located in the Denderstreek and in the Flemish Ardennes, the hilly southern part of the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Geraardsbergen prop ...

. The municipality comprises the town of Moerbeke proper, and part of the Dutch-Belgian village

Koewacht Koewacht is a village on the border between the Netherlands and Belgium. The village consists of two parts; a Dutch and a (smaller) Belgian part. Overview The Dutch part is located in Zeelandic Flanders, a part of the province of Zeeland and p ...

. In 2021, Moerbeke had a total population of 6,619. The total area is 37.80 km². Moerbeke was known very well for its

sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...

. It is thought to have been the hometown of

William of Moerbeke William of Moerbeke, O.P. ( nl, Willem van Moerbeke; la, Guillelmus de Morbeka; 1215–35 – 1286), was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek language into Latin, enabled by the period ...

, who as Bishop of Corinth produced a new translation into Latin of the works of Aristotle, including certain which had been rediscovered from Arab sources, in the late 13th century. Unique is the political situation: since 1847 the

liberal party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

has an absolute majority. The current mayor is

Robby De Caluwé Robby De Caluwé (1 January 1975) is a Belgian politician for Open Vld. He is mayor of Moerbeke-Waas since 2013 and member of the Belgian Federal Parliament since 2019. Biography De Caluwé studied management between 1994 and 1997. He worked a ...

. The previous mayor was

Filip Marin Filip () is a masculine given name and a surname, cognate to Philip. In Croatia, the name Filip was among the most common masculine given names in the 2000s. Notable people with the name include: ; Given name * Filip Barović (born 1990), Monten ...

. The

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

are Pierre De Bock, Marc Fruytier, Thierry Walbrecht, Sarah Poppe and Rudy Van Megroot (all

Open Vld french: Libéraux et démocrates flamands ouverts , abbreviation = Open Vld , logo = , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Egbert Lachaert , foundation = 1992 (VLD)2007 (Open Vld) , predecessor = Pa ...

). The members of the council are Frederic Dierinck, Inge Mertens, Koen Mertens and Jonas Vandamme for Open Vld, Steven Aper for

N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( nl, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was founded in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). T ...

, Lut Vandevijver, Marnik Cooreman and Guido Van Hoecke for

CD&V Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations (UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party wa ...

and Etienne Coppens and Chantal Francis for

SP.a Vooruit (Dutch for Forward, ) is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. The party was known as the Flemish Socialist Party (1978–2001: ''Socialistische Partij'', SP; 2001–2021: ''Socialistische Partij Anders'', SP.A) until 2 ...

Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.

, Christophe Clerc (formerly N-VA) and Kristof Van Poucke (formerly N-VA) now both independent

Gallery

File:Moerbeke, parochiekerk Sint Antonius Abt oeg34245 foto6 2013-05-06 12.31.jpg, Moerbeke, church: parochiekerk Sint Antonius Abt File:Moerbeke, ophaalbrug over de Meervaart foto2 2013-05-06 12.22.jpg, Moerbeke, drawing bridge across de Moervaart File:Koewacht-Moerbeke, de Sint Filippus en Sint Jacobuskerk oeg34290 positie2 foto1 2013-05-06 13.12.jpg, Koewacht-Moerbeke, church: de Sint Filippus en Sint Jacobuskerk

References

External links

*
Official website

The mayor's website

Open Vld Moerbeke's website
Municipalities of East Flanders Waasland Populated places in East Flanders {{EastFlanders-geo-stub