Annemie Turtelboom | |
---|---|
Belgian Member of the European Court of Auditors | |
Assumed office 1 May 2018 | |
President | Tony Murphy |
Preceded by | Karel Pinxten |
Flemish Minister of Finance and Energy | |
In office 25 July 2014 –29 April 2016 | |
Prime Minister | Geert Bourgeois |
Preceded by | Philippe Muyters (Budget) Freya Van Den Bossche (Energy) |
Succeeded by | Bart Tommelein |
Minister of Justice | |
In office 6 December 2011 –25 July 2014 | |
Prime Minister | Elio Di Rupo |
Preceded by | Stefaan De Clerck |
Succeeded by | Maggie De Block |
Minister of the Interior | |
In office 17 July 2009 –6 December 2011 | |
Prime Minister | Herman Van Rompuy Yves Leterme |
Preceded by | Guido De Padt |
Succeeded by | Joëlle Milquet |
Personal details | |
Born | Ninove,Belgium | 22 November 1967
Political party | Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats |
Annemie Turtelboom (born 22 November 1967) is a former Belgian minister,who served in the Federal Government of Belgium as a member of the Open VLD party,initially as minister for Asylum and Migration,and later Home Affairs and Justice. She has also served as minister of Finance,Budget and Energy in the Flemish Government. After leaving politics,she became the Belgian member of the European Court of Auditors,a position she has held since 2018.
Annemie Turtelboom graduated from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1993 with an MA in economics,having previously obtained a Teaching Certificate from the Guardini Institute in Antwerp in 1988. [1] She proceeded to teach economics at KU Leuven for ten years where she was appointed head teacher. Her lectures ranged from primarily marketing and statistics,to banking and insurance. [2] [3]
Turtelboom started her political life as a member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party's youth wing,rising to the position of vice-chair. In 2001,she and other members of the so-called "Yanko Group" left the party to join the Nieuwe Christen-Democraten (NCD) group of Johan Van Hecke and Karel Pinxten,which later joined the Open VLD. [4] In 2003,Turtelboom entered the Belgian Federal Parliament as a member of Open VLD. [5]
Minister of Migration and Asylum
In 2008,she was appointed as Minister of Migration and Asylum Policy in the Leterme I Government. [6] During her time in the office,she regularised the status of asylum seeker families who had school-going children,and been in Belgium for at least five years. This gave these families resident permits to live and work in Belgium. [7]
Minister of the Interior
She was appointed Minister of the Interior in the succeeding Van Rompuy Government on 17 July 2009, [8] and retained that office in the Leterme II Government,which took office on 24 November 2009. [9]
During this time,the country faced several catastrophes,such as an explosion in Liege, [10] widespread flooding across the country, [11] and the Halle train collision,the deadliest rail accident in Belgium in over fifty years. [12]
Following rioting in Brussels in 2009, [13] a zero tolerance approach to street crime was instigated in certain districts. Turtelboom stated that vehicle thefts fell by 48% and armed robberies by 17% within months of the policy being launched. [14]
Minister of Justice
In 2011,Turtelboom was appointed as Minister of Justice - the first woman to take the position in Belgian history [15] - in the government of Elio Di Rupo. At the outset of her term,she set out three priorities:quicker and more efficient punishment of crimes;reform of the judicial districts,streamlining them by making them fewer and larger,and digitalisation of the system's databases and processes. [16] She oversaw the opening of three new prisons,in Beveren, [17] Leuze [18] and Marche-en-Famenne. [19] In 2013,Turtelboom released €2.7m for the setting up of "fast-track" courts,to quickly try perpetrators of petty crime,and ease the work load of the regular court system. [20] She also tightened up the rules for the acquisition of Belgian passports,requiring that applicants be capable of speaking one of the country's official languages (French,Dutch or German) and have been resident in Belgium for five years. The stricter requirements saw the number of passports handed out drop from an average of 40,000 annually to under 5,000. [21]
As the sitting Justice Minister,she read out at the abdication act at the ceremony in which Albert II of Belgium transferred the crown to his son Philippe of Belgium in 2013. [22]
She left that office in 2014 to take up a position in the Flemish Government. [23]
From 25 July 2014,Turtelboom took up the position of vice minister-president and Flemish minister of Finance,Budget and Energy in the Bourgeois Government (2014-2019). [24]
During her time in the role,she introduced policies to "green" vehicle taxes,by matching tax levels to emissions. [25]
On 29 April 2016,she resigned from her function as minister in the Flemish government, [26] but retained her position as a member of parliament. She later took up the position as Belgian member of the European Court of Auditors. [27]
In January 2018,the Belgian government nominated Turtelboom as a member of the European Court of Auditors. [28] Turtelboom is currently the Belgian Member of the Court,and the dean of the Court's Chamber II - Chamber II —Investment for cohesion,growth and inclusion. [29] Her portfolio includes audit work related to EU budget,EU public finance,policies related to EU governance,financial instruments and technical assistance in the EU. [30] Most recently,she led audits in the area of EU-China relations and passenger rights. Turtelboom was nominated for a new six-year term in 2023. During the European Parliament hearing on her re-nomination,she stated that "I am a strong advocate of sound financial management. As a percentage of the GDP,the European budget may be small,but we are still talking about billions,so ‘relatively small’does not mean that this money,i.e.,EU taxpayers’money,should not be well-spent. We are not only the guardians of the EU finances but also the advocates of citizens’concerns and I take this double responsibility very seriously. I have published several reports on EU finances,but also on topics highly relevant to citizens’lives;and always strive to make my reports as accessible as possible. Clear and transparent communication is key to ensuring citizens’trust in the European project". [31]
Groen,founded as Agalev,is a green Flemish political party in Belgium. The main pillars of the party are social justice,human rights,and ecologism. Its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo;the two parties maintain close relations with each other.
Yves Camille DésiréLeterme is a Belgian politician,a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008,and later from November 2009 to December 2011.
Jean-Marie Louis Dedecker is a Belgian politician.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate.
The 2007–2008 Belgian government formation followed the general election of 10 June 2007,and comprised a period of negotiation in which the Flemish parties Flemish Liberal Democratic,Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA),and the French-speaking parties Reformist Movement (MR),Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF) and Humanist Democratic Centre (CdH) negotiated to form a government coalition. The negotiations were characterized by the disagreement between the Dutch- and French-speaking parties about the need for and nature of a constitutional reform. According to some,this political conflict could have led to a partition of Belgium.
The Verhofstadt III government was an interim Belgian government inaugurated on 21 December 2007 and lasting until 23 March 2008. It was led by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt government and contained representatives from the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats,Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V),the Francophone Socialists (PS),the Francophone Liberals (MR) and Francophone Christian Democrats (CDH).
The Van Rompuy Government was the federal government of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until 15 November 2009. Herman Van Rompuy was nominated as the first President of the European Council and resigned shortly after as Premier. It took office when the Flemish Christian Democrat Herman Van Rompuy was sworn in as Prime Minister after the Leterme I Government fell on 22 December 2008.
Alexander De Croo is a Belgian politician and businessman who is the prime minister of Belgium. He assumed office in October 2020 and is currently acting in a demissionary capacity.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 13 June 2010,during the midst of the 2007-11 Belgian political crisis. After the fall of the previous Leterme II Government over the withdrawal of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats from the government the King dissolved the legislature and called new elections. The New Flemish Alliance,led by Bart De Wever,emerged as the plurality party with 27 seats,just one more than the francophone Socialist Party,led by Elio Di Rupo,which was the largest party in the Wallonia region and Brussels. It took a world record 541 days until a government was formed,resulting in a government led by Di Rupo.
Meyrem Almaci is a Belgian politician from Flanders and member of the ecological party Groen. On 10 June 2007,she was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives for the first time. She was re-elected in 2010 and in 2014 when she also became the president of Groen. In 2019 she left the Belgian parliament and was elected in the Flemish Parliament.
Jan Jambon is a Belgian businessman and politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) who served as Minister-President of Flanders from 2019 to 2024. He replaced Kris Peeters as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2007. The N-VA was,at that time,partnered with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish party. In June 2010 and May 2014 he was re-elected on an N-VA list.
Nadia Sminate is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. She was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010.
The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011,after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats (sp.a/PS),Christian democrats (CD&V/cdH) and liberals,respectively of the Dutch and French language groups. The government notably excluded the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA),the Flemish nationalist party which achieved a plurality and became the largest party. Its absence,together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties,caused the government coalition to lack a majority in the Dutch language group. It was the first time that the Belgian prime minister had been openly gay,as Di Rupo became the world's first male openly gay head of government. Elio Di Rupo also became the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the first prime minister from Wallonia since 1974 and first socialist prime minister since 1974.
Maggie Celine Louise De Block is a Belgian politician of the Open VLD who has been chairing her party's group in the Chamber of Representatives since 2020.
The Bourgeois Government (Regering-Bourgeois) was the Flemish Government formed following the 2014 Flemish Parliament election. The cabinet consisted of a centre-right coalition of the nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA),the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V) and the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. It had a large majority in the Flemish Parliament and the main opposition parties were the Socialist Party (sp.a),which had been part of nearly all previous governments in recent history,and the Green party.
In Belgium,the government formation of 2019–2020 started one day after the federal elections,regional elections and European elections which were all held simultaneously on 26 May 2019. These formations were only the second under King Philippe.
Sihame El Kaouakibi is a former Belgian politician and the founder of the Let's Go Urban project. In 2021,she was accused of fraudulent use of government subsidies. Almost 1 million euro is claimed to have been used for her own profit.
Egbert R. Lachaert is a Belgian lawyer,politician and was party chairman of the Open VLD.
Tom Ongena is a Belgian politician for the Open Vld born in Germany and has served as chairman of the party since 2023.
Lode Vereeck is a Belgian economist,professor and politician of the Vlaams Belang party,and formerly of the Open VLD and Lijst Dedecker.
Media related to Annemie Turtelboom at Wikimedia Commons