Alexander De Croo | |
---|---|
Prime Minister of Belgium | |
Assumed office 1 October 2020 | |
Monarch | Philippe |
Deputy | |
Preceded by | Sophie Wilmès |
Minister of Finance | |
In office 9 December 2018 –1 October 2020 | |
Prime Minister | Charles Michel Sophie Wilmès |
Preceded by | Johan Van Overtveldt |
Succeeded by | Vincent Van Peteghem |
Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium | |
In office 22 October 2012 –1 October 2020 | |
Prime Minister | Elio Di Rupo Charles Michel Sophie Wilmès |
Preceded by | Vincent Van Quickenborne |
Succeeded by | Vincent Van Quickenborne |
Minister of Pensions | |
In office 22 October 2012 –11 October 2014 | |
Prime Minister | Elio Di Rupo |
Preceded by | Vincent Van Quickenborne |
Succeeded by | Daniel Bacquelaine |
Leader of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats | |
In office 12 December 2009 –22 October 2012 | |
Deputy | Vincent Van Quickenborne Patricia Ceysens |
Preceded by | Guy Verhofstadt (Acting) |
Succeeded by | Guy Verhofstadt (Acting) |
Minister of Development Cooperation | |
In office 11 October 2014 –1 October 2020 | |
Prime Minister | Charles Michel Sophie Wilmès |
Preceded by | Jean-Pascal Labille [ fr ] |
Personal details | |
Born | Vilvoorde,Flanders,Belgium | 3 November 1975
Political party | Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats |
Spouse | Annik Penders |
Children | 2 |
Education | Vrije Universiteit Brussel (MSc) Northwestern University (MBA) |
Website | www |
Alexander De Croo (born 3 November 1975) is a Belgian politician and businessman who has served as the prime minister of Belgium since October 2020.
De Croo was born in Vilvoorde,Flemish Brabant,and studied business engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel before attaining an MBA at Northwestern University in the United States. He worked for Boston Consulting Group before starting his own company,Darts-ip,in 2006. De Croo became involved with the Belgian political party Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (Open VLD),of which he was chairman from 2009 to 2012. From 2012 to 2020,De Croo served in the governments of Elio Di Rupo,Charles Michel,and Sophie Wilmès as a deputy prime minister of Belgium.
During his tenure as deputy prime minister he served as the Minister of Pensions from 2012 to 2014,as Minister of Development Cooperation from 2014 to 2020,and as Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2020. On 1 October 2020,over a year after the 2019 federal elections,the De Croo Government was formed to replace Wilmès' minority government,with De Croo as prime minister.
Alexander De Croo was born on 3 November 1975 in Vilvoorde in Flemish Brabant,Belgium, [1] and was one of two children of the politician and Minister of State Herman De Croo and his wife Françoise Desguin. [2] In 1993,he attended the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where he graduated in 1998 in Business Engineering. He attended Northwestern University in Evanston,Illinois,in 2002,and completed an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management in 2004. Prior to his political career,De Croo became a project leader at Boston Consulting Group in 1999. In 2006 he founded a new company called Darts-ip that specialized in providing services to intellectual property professionals. [3]
In 2009,De Croo participated for the first time in politics,standing in the 2009 European elections. He received more than 47,000 votes. [4] On 26 October,De Croo became a candidate for the presidency of his political party,Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD),to succeed the transitional party president,Guy Verhofstadt. He chose Vincent Van Quickenborne and Patricia Ceysens as his running mates to compete against Marino Keulen and Gwendolyn Rutten. On 12 December,he was elected president in the second round with 11,676 votes;Marino Keulen received 9,614 votes. [5] His election was considered remarkable as he had almost no previous experience as a politician. [6] [7]
Five months after being elected party leader,De Croo threatened to withdraw the Open VLD from the governing coalition if there was no solution to the constitutional dispute in the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde voting issue. After Open VLD's deadline passed the party left the government and then Prime Minister Yves Leterme announced the government's resignation. This was accepted by King Albert II on 26 April 2010. [8] During the elections for the Senate in 2010,De Croo obtained more than 301,000 votes,the third most in the Dutch-speaking constituency [4] and served as a senator until 22 October 2012. [9]
De Croo succeeded Van Quickenborne in the Di Rupo Government as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Pensions on 22 October 2012 [10] after Van Quickenborne resigned to become mayor of Kortrijk. [11] In December Gwendolyn Rutten was elected as the new chairwoman of Open VLD. [12]
After the 2014 Belgian federal election and its Federal Government formation,it was decided that he would remain Deputy Prime Minister in the newly formed Michel I Government. De Croo also became Minister of Development Cooperation,Digital Agenda,Telecom and Postal Services [13] [14] while Daniel Bacquelaine took over from him as Minister of Pensions. [14] This government took office on 11 October 2014. [15]
During De Croo's time in office,Belgium became the first country to suspend official development assistance to Burundi after the beginning of violent unrest in the African country from 2015. [16] In 2017,De Croo pledged €25 million ($26.81 million) through 2025 to eradicate African sleeping sickness. [17] He also was one of the founders of the She Decides movement,a reaction against the re-installation of the Mexico City Policy by President Donald Trump. [18]
After a disagreement within the government over the UN Global Compact for Migration,the N-VA left the governing coalition,causing the administration to become a minority government on 9 December 2018,known as Michel II. [19] De Croo became Minister of Finance,replacing Johan Van Overtveldt. [20]
In December 2018,De Croo took the stage during the Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100 concert in Johannesburg,South Africa. It was the final event of the international campaign #SheIsEqual for women's rights which attracted €780 million in commitments. [21]
Under the caretaker administration of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès,he oversaw a financial stimulus package to tackle the COVID-19 crisis and a deal to save Brussels Airlines in 2020. [22] He was elected joint deputy chairman of Open VLD,together with Egbert Lachaert. [23]
On 23 September 2020,Alexander De Croo and Paul Magnette (PS) were appointed by the King to form a government. [24] On 30 September 2020,it was announced that De Croo would take over the position of prime minister,succeeding Wilmès. [25]
The formation of the Belgian government (Vivaldi) took a considerable amount of time. The book De doodgravers van België by Wouter Verschelden states that the main reason for the prolonged negotiations was a scandal about communication between De Croo and an Italian pornographic film actress. [26] [27] In August 2021, Corriere della Sera quoted statements by the implicated actress,claiming that De Croo had messaged her seeking a meeting and that they had not met,but had continued to exchange messages. [28]
De Croo's government has a higher proportion of women ministers than any previous Belgian government:half of the ministers are women. [29]
In June 2021,he visited the site of the Antwerp building collapse with King Philippe of Belgium and spoke with emergency workers. [30]
In February 2022,the government adopted a law to make the labour market more flexible:employees will have the possibility,provided that their company agrees,of switching to a four-day week. In return,their working days will be extended to 9.5 hours (corresponding to a 38-hour week). The law also makes working hours between 8 p.m. and midnight more flexible,as they will no longer be considered as night work and will not entitle employees to any compensation. [31]
The government wants to increase military spending to 2 per cent of GDP in order to comply with the demands of NATO and the U.S. government,which is causing tension within its coalition. The right-wing supports the plan,but the ecologists are opposed,arguing that the government should have other priorities than the military,while the socialists remain undecided. [32]
On 26 November 2022,De Croo and foreign minister Hadja Lahbib visited Ukraine,meeting president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pledging continued Belgian support to Ukraine. [33]
In November 2023,De Croo called the Israeli bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip "disproportionate",but said that "Belgium will not take sides" in the Israel–Hamas war. [34] The Israeli government accused him of "supporting terrorism". [35]
On 26 February 2024 DeCroo travelled to Paris,where Emmanuel Macron was holding an emergency summit over the situation in Ukraine,as they had just suffered the loss of Avdiivka. Czech PM Petr Fiala proposed to purchase 500,000 rounds of artillery ammunition for Volodymyr Zelensky's forces. This was the second time in one month the Czech government had aired the matter. The French had previously vetoed the idea to purchase the ammunition from foreign sources. [36] The Dutch government of Mark Rutte announced,through him on that day in Paris,that it would provide €100 million for this purpose,and DeCroo announced that his government would provide €200 million. Fiala managed to attract 15 nations to his cause. The Prime Minister of Portugal,Antonio Costa,said that the group defense ministers had been tasked with a 7 March deadline to formulate and execute the plan. [37] [38] [39] "J’entends de l’inquiétude et du pessimisme de la part de plusieurs pays européens. Plutôt que de l’exprimer,nous venons avec une réponse," said DeCroo. [40]
Like the majority of party leaders in Belgium,De Croo is in favour of greater limits on the political power of the Belgian monarch. He is of the opinion that the monarch's power should be ceremonial,similar to that of other Western European monarchs. [41]
De Croo is married to Annik Penders and they have two children. [42] He is a keen equestrian and takes part in a formal event each year together with his father;in 2010 he broke a foot and an elbow when he fell from his horse. [43] He is fluent in Dutch and English,as well as French,the native language of his mother. [44]
The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. A smaller fraction within the party has social liberal views.
The Federal Government of Belgium exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretary of state drawn from the political parties which form the governing coalition. The federal government is led by the prime minister of Belgium,and ministers lead ministries of the government. Ministers together form the Council of Ministers,which is the supreme executive organ of the government.
Vincent Paul Marie Van Quickenborne is a Belgian politician of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats who served as Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo from 2020 to 2023.
Jan Jambon is a Belgian politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) who has been serving as Minister-President of Flanders since 2019. 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.
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 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 Council of Ministers is the supreme executive organ of the Federal Government of the Kingdom of Belgium. It is a cabinet composed of the Prime Minister,who leads it,and up to fourteen senior ministers. Federal secretaries of state are members of the government,but not part of the Council. The King of the Belgians historically presided over the Council,but this has not happened since 1957. The Council of Ministers formally became a permanent policy structure with the constitutional revision of 1970.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 26 May 2019,alongside the country's European and regional elections. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from eleven multi-member constituencies.
Sophie Wilmès is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 2019 to 2020. She later served as minister of foreign affairs from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Reformist Movement,she is the first woman to hold either position.
In the run up to the 2024 Belgian federal election,various organisations carry out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in Belgium. The date range for these polls are from the 2019 Belgian federal election,held on 25 May,to the present day. The results of nationwide polls are usually numerically split into the three Belgian regions:Flanders,Brussels and Wallonia. Federal seat projections for the Chamber of Representatives are presented together under these regional polls. The federal election will be part of a group of elections which also include the regional elections and the European elections. Some polls might be undefined voting intentions without differentiating between the elections.
The Michel II Government was the Federal Government of Belgium,led by Prime Minister Charles Michel from 18 December 2018 until 27 October 2019 when it was succeeded by the Wilmès I Government. It was a centre minority coalition cabinet of Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V),the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats and the Reformist Movement (MR). On 26 October 2019,it was announced that Sophie Wilmès would take over the role of Prime Minister from Michel on 1 November 2019,and form a new government.
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.
The Wilmès I Government was a caretaker Federal Government of Belgium,led by Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès,the first ever female Prime Minister of Belgium.
The Wilmès II Government was a minority Federal Government of Belgium,led by Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès,the first female Prime Minister of Belgium.
Vincent Van Peteghem is a Belgian economist and politician of CD&V who has been serving as Minister of Finance in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo since 1 October 2020. He was a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium from 2014 until 2020.
The De Croo Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium,led by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo since 1 October 2020.
Egbert R. Lachaert is a Belgian lawyer,politician and party chairman of the Open VLD.
Paul Van Tigchelt is a Belgian politician from Open VLD who has been serving as the Federal Minister of Justice and the North Sea in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo since 22 October 2023.