Mayor of Brussels steps down over extra salary row

Bruxelles: The mayor of Brussels has resigned following revelations he drew a salary from a non-profit organisation for the homeless, his cabinet said. 

Socialist Yvan Mayeur, who has served as mayor of the Belgian capital since 2013, was paid 18,900 euros last year for his role on the board of Samusocial, which provides emergency care for the homeless, public broadcaster RTBF said.

Almost all of the organisation`s budget comes from public funds but its legal status bars elected officials from overseeing its management. 

Mayeur gathered fellow Socialists on Thursday night to announce he was stepping down, a member of his cabinet told AFP without providing further details.

Negotiations will continue into the night to decide his successor, local media reported.

Mayeur had seemed defiant in the face of criticism in an interview published by Belgian daily Le Soir earlier Thursday.

"I work for society, I am not in charity but in the professional sphere. Does that deserve some recompense I think it does," he said.

"After tax I took 700 euros a month (from Samusocial). There was and remains a justification for that when you look at all that was accomplished," he added.

The row began after an opposition politician revealed that Samusocial was paying its managers more than 60,000 euros a year.