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.
Vooruit is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. It was known as the (Flemish) Socialist Party until 21 March 2021, when its current name was adopted.
Flanders is both a cultural community and an economic region within the Belgian state, and has significant autonomy.
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Belgium. Liberalism was a dominant force since the Belgian independence from the Netherlands. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it is not necessary that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.
Hugo F.V. Coveliers is a retired Belgian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives between 1985 and 1995, and from 1993 to 2003. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Belgian Senate. He was a parliamentary chairman for the VLD in both chambers, from 1999 to 2003.
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.
Eduard Marie August "Ward" Beysen was a Belgian politician and well-known freemason. He held a degree in Dutch and history teaching, obtained in 1963, in Lier and started his political career in the seventies in the Flemish liberal party, the Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV), which was renamed Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) in 1992. Ward Beysen – suffering a depression – died by drowning himself in the lake of Fort 6 in the south of Antwerp.
Nova Civitas was a Flemish think tank based on the principles of classic liberalism in combination with Anglo-Saxon conservatism. Nova Civitas claimed at its founding to be completely independent, although it was recognized and supported by the Flemish Liberal Party (VLD). The Founding Chairman of Nova Civitas, Boudewijn Bouckaert, was a long-time board member of the VLD.
According to their website, the basic principles of Nova Civitas were:
Matthias Edward Storme is a Belgian lawyer, academic and conservative philosopher.
Liberales is an independent liberal think tank, located in Ghent, Flanders, Belgium. The organization promotes progressive liberalism and supports individual freedom, justice, a certain degree of self-government and human rights. It also supports responsibility, civil liberties, and solidarity. Liberales opposes conservatism, fascism, communism, libertarianism, and religious intolerance.
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.
Libertarian, Direct, Democratic is a conservative-liberal, libertarian, right-wing populist Flemish political party in Belgium.
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.
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.
The Verhofstadt II Government was the federal government of Belgium from 12 July 2003 to 21 December 2007.
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.
The LVSV(Liberaal Vlaams StudentenVerbond or Liberal Flemish Students' Association) unites all Dutch speaking classical-liberal and libertarian students in Belgium. The values they uphold are individual freedom, freedom of speech, free trade and human rights, with focus on the non-aggression principle. The LVSV opposes big government in any meaning. They are an independent organisation, not affiliated to any political party. The LVSV organises political activities as well as typical student activities in five cities: Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Hasselt and Leuven. There currently is no national president. Famous former members include Guy Verhofstadt, Bart De Wever (N-VA), Zuhal Demir (N-VA), Willy De Clercq, Karel De Gucht and Egbert Lachaert.
Lode Claes was a Belgian economist author, journalist and politician who was active within the Flemish nationalist movement.
