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🇧🇪 Belgium /Culture & Society

Zwevegem signs twinning pact with French town of Espalion over shared Bekaert history

From VRT NWS · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • Belgian municipality Zwevegem signed a twinning agreement with the French town of Espalion.
  • The partnership reflects their shared history with steel-wire manufacturer Bekaert, which operated a plant in Espalion in the early 1960s.
  • The towns plan regular visits, cooperation and exchanges, alongside existing ties with Le Coteau and Lorsch.

Zwevegem has signed a new twinning agreement with the French town of Espalion, reviving a shared industrial history linked to steel-wire manufacturer Bekaert.

Bekaert opened a site in Espalion in the early 1960s, but the operation lasted only a short time. The company later established Béka in Le Coteau, prompting about 50 families from Espalion to move there for work. The departure reduced Espalion’s population and resources, according to Erwin Bossuyt, chairman of Zwevegem’s twinning committee.

What few people know is that Bekaert originally had contacts with Espalion, and that there was also a Bekaert site there.

· Erwin BossuytHe explained the industrial link behind the new twinning agreement.

The connection between Espalion and Le Coteau led to a twinning agreement between those towns in the late 1990s. Espalion later came onto Zwevegem’s agenda at a meeting in Le Coteau, another shared French partner town, where Espalion Mayor Eric Picard proposed the new relationship.

The twinned communities plan to visit one another regularly and organize cooperation and exchanges in the future. Zwevegem also has a twinning agreement with the German town of Lorsch.

About 50 families moved from Espalion to Le Coteau to work there.

· Erwin BossuytHe described the effect of Bekaert’s relocation on Espalion.
About this summary

Originally published by VRT NWS in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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