Bart De Wever
| Bart De Wever | |
|---|---|
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| Chairman of the New Flemish Alliance |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Geert Bourgeois |
| Member of the Flemish Parliament | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2009 |
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| In office 13 June 2004 – 10 June 2007 |
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| Member of Parliament (Chamber of Representatives) |
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| In office 10 June 2007 – 7 June 2009 |
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| Senator | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 13 July 2010 |
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| Member of the Antwerp city council | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 3 January 2007 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | Bart Albert Liliane De Wever 21 December 1970 Mortsel, Belgium |
| Nationality |  Belgium |
| Political party | New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) |
| Spouse(s) | Veerle Hegge |
| Residence | Antwerp, Belgium |
| Alma mater | University of Leuven |
| Occupation | Politician Historian |
Bart Albert Liliane De Wever (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɑrt də ˈʋeːvər]; born in Mortsel, 21 December 1970) is a Flemish politician and since 2004 has been the president of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a Flemish party that strives for an independent Flanders in a united Europe. He has also been a member of the Flemish parliament since 2004. He played a prominent role in the 2007 Belgian government formation and led his party to victory in the 2010 Belgian federal elections, after which the N-VA became the largest party in both Flanders and the whole of Belgium.
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[edit] Biography
De Wever attended the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), graduating with a licentiate (which is the equivalent of the master's degree) in history. During his student years he was a member of the Liberaal Vlaams Studentenverbond (LVSV, Liberal Flemish Students' Union), the Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (KVHV, Catholic Flemish Students' Union) of Antwerp and Leuven. He is also the former editor in chief of Tegenstroom (magazine of KVHV-Antwerp) and Ons Leven (magazine of KVHV-Leuven). Professionally, he was engaged as a scientific assistant working on the 'Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Beweging' (New Encyclopedia of the Flemish Movement), in which he wrote articles about Taal Aktiekomitee, Vlaams Blok and Vlaamse Militanten Orde (Flemish Militants Order), among other topics.
In 2004, he was elected as president of the N-VA with 95% of the votes. He was the only candidate.
De Wever went through a rough stretch in 2006 when he accepted conservative liberal Jean-Marie Dedecker as an N-VA member, which caused a break-up with the CD&V. To make peace with this (much larger) party, Dedecker had to leave. Although he was criticised extensively, the local N-VA leaders reaffirmed their trust in De Wever, which allowed him to remain president.
In the regional elections of 2009, his party won an unexpected 13% of the votes, making N-VA the winner of the elections together with old cartel partner CD&V. N-VA subsequently joined the government, with De Wever choosing to remain party president and appointing two other party members as ministers in the Flemish Government and one party member as speaker of the Flemish parliament.
Under his presidency his party obtained a landslide victory of around 30% during federal elections held on 13 June 2010. De Wever himself won the most preference votes of the Dutch-speaking region (nearly 800,000).
[edit] Political resumé
- Member of the district council of Berchem (1996-1997)
- Member of the Flemish Parliament. (2004-2007)
- President of the N-VA (2004- )
- Representative (2007- )
- Member of Antwerp municipal council (2007- )
[edit] Views
In 2008, while being interviewed on an early morning TV programme, he stated that: "I think that there is no French-speaking minority in Flanders; there are immigrants who have to adapt. We ask the Moroccans and the Turks to do that. We don't say to them 'There's a lot of you, so Arabic will become an official language.' That's crazy."[1]
He is also an admirer of the Irish conservative philosopher Edmund Burke, and his Burkean conservatism. His ideas are also influenced by British writer Theodore Dalrymple.
[edit] Controversies
In 1996, he was photographed attending a conference by the French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.[2] De Wever explained his attendance by saying that "in a democracy, everyone should have the right to express his opinion, even if it's an opinion I detest. And I always prefer to get my information first hand than to get it in a filtered way."
In October 2007, in reaction to the apology of the Mayor of Antwerp for his city's collaboration in the deportation of Jews during World War II, Bart De Wever said that :
- "Antwerp did not organise the deportation of the Jews, it was the victim of Nazi occupation... Those who were in power at the time had to take tricky decisions in difficult times. I don't find it very courageous to stigmatise them now."[3]
He later apologized to Antwerp Jews.[4] Following these events, in a tribune published in Le Monde, the Belgian French-speaking writer Pierre Mertens said that [Bart De Wever was] a "convinced negationist leader". De Wever decided to sue Mertens in court for this allegation.[5][6]
De Wever was present at the funeral of Holocaust negationist Karel Dillen in 2007[7] and of far-right political figure Marie-Rose Morel in 2011.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.sudpresse.be/la_une/details/une/Une/2008/08/01/article_nv_a_les_francophones_sont.shtml
- ^ Pierre Gilissen, La photo qui énerve Bart de Wever, Le Soir, 31 August 2007.
- ^ A Belgian leader flirts with the far-right, The Economist, 31 October 2007.
- ^ Flemish nationalist politician apologizes to Antwerp Jews, European Jewish Press, October 2007.
- ^ (nl) Le Soir daagt De Wever uit, De Standaard, 8 July 2008.
- ^ (fr) Bart de Wever attaque Pierre Mertens, La Dernière Heure, 8 July 2008.
- ^ Face of Flanders, Bart De Wever, Flanders today, 23 June 2010.
