Leuven mayor wants to make AB-InBev’s Brito citizen of honour

Not only Leuven’s socialist mayor Louis Tobback is pleased that AB-InBev will remain headquartered in the city following its acquisition of SABMiller. Rik Daems, a city councillor and member of the Liberal party, is also a happy man. Both want AB-InBev’s CEO Carlos Brito to be made a citizen of honour, the Belgian newspaper De Tijd reported on 5 August 2016.

“AB-InBev remains in Leuven. Cool. Maybe Brito now becomes a Freeman. After all it is ’only’ the largest beer company in the world,” Mr Daems tweeted on 4 August 2016.

According to De Tijd, already late last year Mr Daems recommended Mr Brito for the honour but was voted down by the aldermen. They took the view that in Leuven it is not customary to make anyone with a mandate an honorary citizen “because a lot can happen,” Mayor Tobback said then.

Isn’t it ironic that for keeping AB-InBev’s headquarters in Leuven, the politicians seem to have forgotten the protests and strikes that accompanied AB-InBev’s headcount reduction from 9,000 to 3,000 in Belgium and the closures of breweries?