Mayor Geyns launches Spotify podcast

Mayor Thomas Geyns is expanding his public presence by hosting Recht Inzicht, a podcast on Spotify and Apple. The 29-year-old liberal politician combines expert legal commentary with surprising observations drawn from his position as Belgium’s third-youngest mayor.

Geyns (Voor Tervuren, Open VLD) narrowly secured the mayor’s post in 2024, defeating Kristina Eyskens (Voor Tervuren, CD&V) — daughter of former prime minister Mark Eyskens — by just 50 votes. That narrow vote and low 53.16% total turnout, may have encouraged him to break with tradition by promising to be a full-time mayor.

“The mayoralty was often combined with other activities. I won’t be doing that,” he told Flemish broadcaster VRT just after winning the mayorship. The move was, he then said, “a significant break with the past.” Tervuren’s €109,000/yr mayor and €59,882/yr alderpersons have traditionally combined their posts with full-time day jobs. That has raised ethical considerations. Many of Tervuren’s 44% non-Belgians hail from countries where combining full-time paid functions is frowned upon or prohibited as in the Netherlands, Germany and France.

What I really mean is …

A year on from elections, Geyns’s early promise about being a full-time mayor has evolved into a more pragmatic view of the job. “I had the ambition to work seven days a week as mayor,” he reflects. “What I really mean is: I’m available seven days a week.”

Geyns oversees security, policing, town twinning, urban planning and the municipality’s 420 staff. Urban planning is perhaps the responsibility he values most. As mayor he is able to profit from being on both sides by continuing at a leading lawyers’ practice. In the past, he has defended clients at the Court of Permit Disputes. “Now I’m on the other side — namely, on the side of how a permit is drawn up, how such a preliminary process works, and all the conversations that take place beforehand with architects, applicants, neighborhood committees,” says Geyns.

Geyns’ unique dual role in the field of urban planning — both as mayor and as a private lawyer — does not appear to breach Tervuren’s strict code of ethics for elected officials. A recent addition to the section on “conflicts of interest and the appearance thereof” further tightens the code by prohibiting local councilors and aldermen from using their @tervuren.be email addresses for communications unrelated to their official duties.

Not every aspect of the job is as pleasing. “I always find that a bit less enjoyable when officiating a wedding,” Geyns openly concedes in the frank podcast. It requires him not only to declare couples married but also to offer a few words of wisdom to those starting a new life together.

The mayor also holds by-appointment sessions for residents every Monday and Friday. He describes this as “classic constituent service” but acknowledges that the practice can be controversial. “Some people frown upon it, or it gets negative commentary,” he says. “It’s sometimes seen as the mayor trying to sort out favours for his voters. But that’s not how I see it.”