Preceded by Kris Peeters Role Belgian Politician Alma mater Ghent University Spouse Betty Hoste (m. 1975) | Religion Roman Catholicism Name Geert Bourgeois | |
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Born 6 July 1951 (age 72)
Roeselare, Belgium ( 1951-07-06 ) Children Karel Bourgeois, Pieter Bourgeois Education Ghent University (1975), Ghent University Political party People's Union, New Flemish Alliance Similar People Jan Peumans, Bart De Wever, Liesbeth Homans, Kris Peeters, Philippe Muyters | ||
Organizations founded New Flemish Alliance | ||
Openingscollege politicologie door geert bourgeois
Geert Albert Bourgeois ( [ˈɣeːrd burˈʒwɑ]; born 6 July 1951) is a Belgian lawyer and politician, who is a member of the separatist party New Flemish Alliance, N-VA). Since 2014, he has been the Minister-President of Flanders and Flemish Minister for Foreign Policy and architectural heritage.
Contents
- Openingscollege politicologie door geert bourgeois
- 2014 2409 vlaparl mp geert bourgeois verdedigt septemberverklaring
- Political career
- Controversy
- Orders and decorations
- References
2014 2409 vlaparl mp geert bourgeois verdedigt septemberverklaring
Political career
Bourgeois first entered elective politics in 1977 when he was elected a member of the city council in Izegem. From 1983 to 1994 he served as an alderman.
In 1995 he was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and, being re-elected in 1999 and 2003, served until July 2004, when he resigned having been elected to the Flemish Parliament.
Since July 2004, Bourgeois served in the Flemish Government as Flemish Minister for Administrative Affairs, Foreign Policy, Media and Tourism. On 22 September 2008 Geert Bourgeois was forced to resign due to pressure by the SP.a-Vl.Pro and Open VLD coalition partners because of his party's no confidence vote in the federal government of Yves Leterme and their lack of trust in further negotiations by the Regions regarding the state reform.
After the regional elections of 2009 the N-VA joined a coalition government with the Christian-democrats and socialists. Bourgeois served as Vice-Minister-President and Flemish Minister for Administrative Affairs, Local and Provincial Government, Civic Integration, Tourism and the Vlaamse Rand in the Peeters II Government (2009–14).
Bourgeois – a lifelong Flemish nationalist – also served as chairman of the Volksunie ("Peoples Union") from 2000 to 2001. After the collapse of the Volksunie in 2001 he founded the N-VA political party which he chaired until 2004. It is a separatist movement that strives for secession of Flanders from Belgium.
Controversy
On 10 July 2016, for the occasion of 11 July, which has been the holiday of the Flemish community (Dutch: Vlaamse gemeenschap) of Belgium since 1990, Bourgeois was interviewed by Dany Verstraeten during the news of a Belgian television broadcaster, where Bourgeois said that oppositions within Belgium's communities were greater than ever, lamented about what he called "brutal strikes" of the Walloon prison guard unions, and subsequently identified the language border between Wallonia and Flanders as a strike border on which the Flemish people spit:
That language border has also become a strike border, and the Flemish spit on that, and don't swallow that ... that they can't go to work, that they don't have free movement of persons.
His use of language and pejorative view on Walloons were heavily criticized in both Flemish and French-speaking communities of Belgium and his claim that "the Flemish spit on" the language border was highlighted in different English news articles within a 24-hour time-frame. One Flemish politician, Eric Van Rompuy, said that the expressions of Bourgeois proved that he "is the weakest minister-president ever".