Petra De Sutter | |
---|---|
Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium | |
Assumed office 1 October 2020 | |
Prime Minister | Alexander De Croo |
Minister of Civil Service | |
Assumed office 1 October 2020 | |
Prime Minister | Alexander De Croo |
Preceded by | David Clarinval |
Member of the European Parliament for Belgium | |
In office 2 July 2019 –30 September 2020 | |
Member of the Belgian Senate | |
In office 3 July 2014 –29 March 2019 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 10 June 1963 61) [1] Oudenaarde,Belgium | (age
Political party | Groen |
Children | 1 |
Alma mater | Ghent University |
Website | www |
Petra De Sutter (born 10 June 1963) is a Belgian gynaecologist and politician,currently serving as federal Deputy Prime Minister.
A member of the Groen party,she was previously a Member of the European Parliament from 2019 until 2020,when she was named Deputy PM with the responsibility of overseeing Belgium's public administration and public enterprises in Alexander De Croo's government. [2] She is the first transgender minister in Europe. [3]
Before entering into politics,she worked as professor of gynaecology at Ghent University,serving as head of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Ghent University Hospital (UZ Gent). [1] [4]
De Sutter was born in Oudenaarde,in the Flemish province of East Flanders,in June 1963. She graduated from Ghent University with a medical degree in 1987 and with a PhD in biomedicine in 1991. [ citation needed ]
After graduating,De Sutter moved to the United States,spending two years studying oocyte genetics in Chicago. In 1994,she earned a specialisation in gynaecology. [5] In 2000,she was named Professor in Reproductive Medicine at Ghent University. In 2006,she was named Head of the Department for Reproductive Medicine of Ghent University Hospital.[ citation needed ]
In the 2014 European elections,De Sutter was second on the list for the Flemish Green party. However,the party missed its hold on a second seat. She was subsequently co-opted by her party for a seat in the Belgian Senate. [4] As a trans woman, [1] she became the first openly transgender Belgian to be on a party election list. [6]
In addition,De Sutter served as member of the Belgian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2014 until 2019. [7] As member of the Socialists,Democrats and Greens Group,she was a member of the Committee on Migration,Refugees and Displaced Persons;the Committee on Rules of Procedure,Immunities and Institutional Affairs;the Sub-Committee on Integration;the Sub-Committee on Public Health and Sustainable Development;and the Sub-Committee on Ethics. She served as the Assembly's rapporteur on children's rights in relation to surrogacy arrangements (2016); [8] on the use of new genetic technologies in human beings (2017); [9] and on the conditions of reception of refugees and migrants (2018). [10]
Since her political debut,De Sutter has tackled a regulation for surrogacy at a Belgian and European level,independent clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry,the risks of TTIP for consumer's protection of food and chemicals,and standing up for rights for LGBT people. [11] [ citation needed ]
On 15 September 2018,it was announced De Sutter was seeking nomination as one of the European Greens two lead candidates for the 2019 European Parliament elections,which eventually fell down to the Dutch Bas Eickhout and the German Ska Keller. [12] After joining the Parliament,she chaired the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection;she was the first Green politician in this position. [13] In 2020,she also joined the Special Committee on Beating Cancer. [14]
In addition,De Sutter was part of the Parliament's delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia (Bangladesh,Bhutan,the Maldives,Nepal,Pakistan and Sri Lanka). She was also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights [15] and co-chaired the MEPs Against Cancer group. [16]
In December 2020,De Sutter received the Justice &Gender Equality award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards,in recognition of her work as an MEP on sexual and reproductive rights. [17]
On 1 October 2020,De Sutter was sworn in as one of seven deputy prime ministers in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo,becoming Europe's first transgender deputy prime minister,and the most senior trans politician in Europe. [18]
In October 2023,De Sutter criticised UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's speech at the Conservative party conference where he argued that his audience should not be "bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be" and that "a man is a man and a woman is a woman." She described Sunak's words as "hurtful and very disappointing" as well as "fuelling transphobia." [19]
In November 2023,De Sutter criticized Israel's conduct of warfare on the Gaza Strip and said "It is time for sanctions against Israel. [20] The rain of bombs is inhumane," De Sutter said. [21] She also called on Hamas to release all its kidnapped hostages,and declared that “we must stop the money flows funding this terror organization." [22] On 29 February 2024,De Sutter said she was horrified by the news of the flour massacre. [23]
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.
Sophia Helena "Sophie" in 't Veld is a Dutch politician. She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2004,and reelected in 2009,2014 and 2019. She was D66's top candidate for the three elections and was its leader in the European Parliament since her first election.
Anne Edward Marie Van Lancker is a Belgian politician and a former Member of the European Parliament for Belgium with the Socialistische Partij Anders (sp.a),part of the Socialist Group and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Belgium are regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe and the world. In 2023,ILGA-Europe ranked Belgium as second in the European Union for LGBT rights protection,behind Malta. In 2024,ILGA-Europe ranked Belgium the third highest after Malta and Iceland.
Titus Corlățean is a Romanian politician and diplomat,former Minister of Justice and of Foreign Affairs. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD),part of the Party of European Socialists,and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Brașov County in the 2004 elections.
Kathleen Van Brempt is a Belgian social-democratic politician and member of Vooruit. She currently serves as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) as part of the Party of European Socialists and is leader of the local branch of her party in Antwerp.
Marie Arena is a Belgian politician who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2014. She is a member of the Socialist Party (PS),part of the Party of European Socialists (PES).
Ulrike Lunacek is an Austrian politician who served as State Secretary for Cultural Affairs in the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in 2020. She is a member of the Austrian Green party The Greens –The Green Alternative,part of the European Green Party.
Esteban González Pons is a Spanish politician of the People's Party (PP) who was a member of the European Parliament between 2014 and 2023. He was elected to the 15th Congress of Deputies from Valencia in the 2023 Spanish general election.
Victoria Grace Ford is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford from 2017 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party,she briefly served as Minister of State for Development from 6 September to 25 October 2022.
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.
Vilija Blinkevičiūtė is a Lithuanian lawyer and politician,Member of the European Parliament and former long-term Minister for Social Security and Labour. Blinkevičiūtėis a member of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania since 2006.
Hilde Vautmans is a Belgian politician of the Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since January 2015,representing the Dutch-speaking electoral college of Belgium.
Dolors Montserrat i Montserrat is a Spanish lawyer and politician who serves as Member of the European Parliament. Previously,she served as Minister of Health,Social Services and Equality of Spain from 2016 to 2018,when a vote of no-confidence against Mariano Rajoy ousted the government.
Barbara Lochbihler is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 until 2019. She is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens,part of the European Green Party.
Stéphane Séjourné is a French politician of Renaissance who served as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal between January and September 2024.
Predrag Fred Matić was a Croatian centre-left politician of the Social Democratic Party who served as a Member of European Parliament from 2019 to his death. He previously served as Minister of Veterans' Affairs from 2011 to 2016,in the Cabinet of Zoran Milanović.
Sara Matthieu is a Belgian politician for Groen who has been serving as a member of European Parliament for Belgium since 2020.
During the Ottoman occupation of Palestine,Belgium maintained honorary consulates in Jaffa,Jerusalem and Haifa.