Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt is a Belgian politician who was the Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium since 2009. He was the 47th Prime Minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008 and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget from 1985 to 1992. He was a Member of the Chamber of Representatives from 1985 to 2009.
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, commonly known as Open VLD or simply as the VLD, is a conservative-liberal Flemish political party in Belgium. The party was created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV) and politicians from other parties. The party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 until March 2008. Open VLD most recently formed the Federal Government with N-VA, CD&V and the Francophone Reformist Movement (MR).
Louis Hortense Omer Charles Michel is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From 2009 to 2019, he was a Member of the European Parliament. Michel is a prominent member of the French-speaking liberal party, the Mouvement Réformateur. He is the father of Charles Michel, the previous Prime Minister of Belgium.
Herbert Reul is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who currently serves as State Minister for Internal Affairs in the government of Minister-President Armin Laschet. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).
Elisa Maria da Costa Guimarães Ferreira, GCC is a Portuguese politician and economist, who is the current vice-governor of the Bank of Portugal. She served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Socialist Party; part of the Party of European Socialists between 2004 and 2016. In 2019, she was selected by Portugal to serve as a European Commissioner.
Jean Georges Arthuis is a French politician. Over the course of career, he has held various ministerial positions and served as Member of the European Parliament from France, where he chaired the Committee on Budgets. He also serves as Senator representing Mayenne in the French Parliament.
Boudewijn Bouckaert is a Belgian law professor, a member of the Flemish Movement, and a libertarian conservative thinker and politician. He chairs the academic board of the LIB-ERA! think tank and serves as Member of the Flemish Parliament for the liberal party List Dedecker. He is also a former president of the Belgian classical liberal think tank Nova Civitas.
The Dutch-speaking electoral college is one of three constituencies of the European Parliament in Belgium. It currently elects 12 MEPs using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation. Previously it elected 13 MEPS, until the 2013 accession of Croatia. Before that, it elected 14 MEPs, until the 2007 accession of Bulgaria and Romania.
Dominique Riquet is a French surgeon and politician who is a Christian Democrat Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and mayor of Valenciennes elected in the 2009 European election for the North-West constituency. He is a member of the Radical Party, a party affiliated with the Union for a Popular Movement.
Alexander De Croo is a Flemish liberal politician, economist and businessman. He currently holds the office of Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister of Finance and Development Cooperation. From 2009 until 2012, he was party leader of (Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats.
Cornelia "Cora" van Nieuwenhuizen-Wijbenga is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She is the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management in the Cabinet Rutte III since 26 October 2017.
Olivier Chastel is a Belgian pharmacist and politician of the Liberal Party "Mouvement Réformateur" (MR) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019.
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 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.
Petra De Sutter is a Belgian gynaecologist and politician of the Green party who has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. She previously worked as professor of gynaecology at Ghent University, head of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Ghent University Hospital.
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 is 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 is 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.
Simona Bonafé is an Italian politician and journalist who currently serves as a member of the European Parliament.
Alessia Mosca is an Italian politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2014.
Hilde Vautmans is a Belgian politician, who, since January 2015 has served as a Member of the European Parliament, representing the Dutch-speaking electoral college of Belgium for the Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten
Lieve Wierinck is a Belgian politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, which sits in the ALDE Group, from 2016 until 2019. She succeeded Philippe De Backer, who became Secretary of State in the Michel Government.
