Eemsdelta () is a

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

in the province of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

formed from the merger of

Appingedam Appingedam (; gos, n Daam) is a city and former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. Although there is no certainty as to the exact age of Appingedam, historical research demonstrates that the place in which the city would eventually b ...

Delfzijl Delfzijl (; gos, Delfsiel) is a city and former municipality with a population of 25,651 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Delfzijl was a sluice between the Delf and the Ems, which became fortified settlement in ...

and Loppersum. The municipality came into existence on 1 January 2021.

Geography

As of 2020, the areas encompassed by the municipality have a population of approximately 46 thousand people. The municipality is bordered by

Het Hogeland Het Hogeland is a municipality in the north of the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. History The municipality of Het Hogeland was established on 1 January 2019 by merging the municipalities of Bedum, De Marne, Eemsmond ...

to the west,

to the southwest,

Midden-Groningen Midden-Groningen (Gronings: ''Midden-Grunnen'') is a municipality with a population of 60,953 in the province of Groningen, Netherlands. The municipality was formed by the merger of former municipalities of Hoogezand-Sappemeer, Slochteren and M ...

to the south and Oldambt to the southeast. It consists of 32 main population centres, the largest of which are

(part of the Appingedam municipality),

, Wagenborgen, Spijk (all part of the Delfzijl municipality), Loppersum and Middelstum (both part of the Loppersum municipality).

Topography

''Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Eemsdelta, 2021.''

History

In 2010, the municipalities of Delfzijl,

Eemsmond Eemsmond (; en, Ems Mouth) is a former municipality with a population of 15,864 in the north of the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. On 1 January 2019 it merged with the municipalities of Bedum, De Marne and Winsum to ...

, Appingedam and Loppersum formed Werkorganisatie DEAL, a joint organisation for handling various municipal tasks. Delfzijl, Appingedam and Loppersum formally announced their interest in a merger on 16 November 2017 and approved the final plans on 2 January 2018. Eemsmond was excluded from the plans as it decided to merge with

Bedum Bedum (; gos, Beem) is a former municipality and a town in the northeastern Netherlands. Populated by inhabitants in , Bedum is one of the larger of Groningen's several satellite towns. On 1 January 2019 it merged with the municipalities of De M ...

De Marne De Marne () is a former municipality in the northeast of the Netherlands. On 1 January 2019 it merged with the municipalities of Bedum, Eemsmond and Winsum to form the new municipality Het Hogeland. Population centres Broek, Eenrum, Hornhuize ...

and

Winsum Winsum () is a town and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. On 1 January 2019 the municipality merged with the municipalities of Bedum, De Marne and Eemsmond to form the new municipality Het Hogeland. The town of Winsum was ...

instead to form the municipality of

. In 2019, the planned dissolution of WO DEAL was announced as the municipalities of Het Hogeland and Eemsdelta were deemed to be large enough to be able to handle all their tasks without the need for further cooperation. The Eemsdelta plans were officially approved by the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

on 22 April 2020, and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

on 7 July 2020, with the plans set to come into effect on 1 January 2021.

Name

The name of the municipality was chosen by a vote. Following nearly 800 submissions, a special committee selected their top three options based on recognisability, history, and geographic considerations. The following thee options were chosen by the committee: Eemsdelta, Fivelgo and Marenland. Afterwards, the residents of the municipalities were allowed to vote on their preferred choice. Over 16 thousand votes were cast (representing a turnout of 42%), with Eemsdelta receiving an overwhelming majority of the votes (67%). The name refers to the river Eems, and has also previously been used as a loosely defined region in the Northeast of Groningen, roughly encompassing the same territory as the municipality and historically known as Fivelingo or Fivelgo. The name Eemsdelta was received with surprise by some of the inhabitants, since the area surrounding the

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/ gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carryin ...

of the Ems is not a

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

.''Gemeentenaam Eemsdelta klopt niet''
''

RTV Noord RTV Noord is a regional radio and television public broadcaster in Groningen, Netherlands. , its radio programs are broadcast on FM 97.5 MHz. It broadcasts TV and radio programming 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Some content is broadcas ...

'' (in Dutch), 8 May 2019.

Politics

The first elections for the municipality were held on 18 November 2020. The election was won by Local Interest Eemsdelta (''Lokaal Belang Eemsdelta'') who received 31.9% of the votes (11 seats), followed by PvdA with 15.9% (5 seats),

ChristenUnie The Christian Union ( nl, ChristenUnie, CU) is a Christian democracy, Christian-democratic List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressivism, progressive sta ...

with 11.0%,

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

with 10.5%, CDA with 10.1% (3 seats each), Municipal Interests Eemsdelta (''Gemeentebelangen Eemsdelta'') with 8.1% and

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and ...

with 5.8% (2 seats each), while the Seniors Party Eemsdelta (''Seniorenpartij Eemsdelta''), the Youth Party Eemsdelta (''Jongerenpartij Eemsdelta'') and D66 failed to get a seat.

References

External links

Official Website
{{coord missing, Netherlands Municipalities of Groningen (province) Municipalities of the Netherlands established in 2021