The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal views. The party is a member of the Liberal Group,Renew Europe,and Liberal International.
The New Flemish Alliance is a Flemish nationalist,conservative and Eurosceptic political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU).
People's Union was a Flemish nationalist political party in Belgium,formed in 1954 as a successor to the Christian Flemish People's Union.
Flanders is both a cultural community and an economic region within the Belgian state,and has significant autonomy.
Bartolomeus Jozef Lodewijk Rosalia "Bart" Somers is a Belgian,Flemish politician. He is currently the mayor of Mechelen.
Jean-Marie Louis Dedecker is a Belgian politician.
Flemish political parties operate in the whole Flemish Community,which covers the unilingual Flemish Region and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. In the latter,they compete with French-speaking parties that all also operate in Wallonia. There are very few parties that operate on a national level in Belgium. Flanders generally tends to vote for right-wing,conservative parties,whereas in French-speaking Belgium the socialist party is usually the most successful one.
The Flemish Government is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet,headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament,and the public administration divided into 13 policy areas,each with an executive department and multiple agencies.
Alfons "Fons" Borginon is a Belgian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives between 1995 and 2007. Borginon was the last chairman of the Volksunie and Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) floor leader from 2006 until the general election of 2007. He was also granted knighthood in the Belgian Order of Leopold. He is married to Kristin Ex and father of Hendrik,Irene and Margreet.
Geert Albert Bourgeois is a Belgian politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA),which he founded in 2001,who is currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He previously served as the Minister-President of Flanders from 2014 to 2019. Prior to this,he was a member of the federal Chamber of Representatives for the People's Union from 1995 to 2001,and then for the N-VA from 2001 to 2004. He has been involved in local and regional politics in Flanders since 1976.
Petrus Josephus Jacobus Gabriëls was a Belgian politician and member of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD). He graduated in 1965 at the Catholic University of Leuven as Master of Philosophy and Arts. He started his political career as a Provincial Councillor for Limburg from 1974 to 1977. From 1977 till the last day of December 2012 he was the Mayor of Bree,and from 1977 he was Member of the Chamber of Representatives. From 1995 to 1999 he was a Member of the Flemish Parliament.
Bert Jozef Herman Vic Anciaux is a Belgian politician and Vooruit faction leader in the Belgian Senate. He was one of the founders of Spirit. Served as Minister for Culture,Youth and Sport in the Flemish Government from 2004 until 2009,he was also Minister for relations with the Brussels-Capital Region and the Brussels 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.
Philippe De Backer is an Open Vld politician and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from September 2011 until April 2016,when he became Secretary of State in the Michel Government.
Following the simultaneous federal elections and regional elections of 25 May 2014,negotiations started to form a new Federal Government as well as new regional governments:a Flemish,Walloon,French Community and Brussels Government. A Government of the German-speaking Community was formed only a few days after the elections.
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.
Sven Gatz is a Belgian Open Vld politician and the current Brussels Minister of Finance,Budget,Civil Service and Multilingualism in the government of the Brussels-Capital Region.
The Michel I Government was the Federal Government of Belgium formed following the 2014 Belgian government formation and sworn in on 11 October 2014. The administration was a centre-right coalition of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA),the Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V),the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats and the Reformist Movement (MR). The prime minister was Charles Michel. The government had an agenda of socio-economic reforms,especially through austerity measures,with its priorities being improving Belgium's economic competitiveness and reducing unemployment. It fell in December 2018 over the Global Compact for Migration.
The Belgian provincial,municipal and district elections of 2018 took place on Sunday 14 October 2018. They are organised by the respective regions:
