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Les Engagés

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Les Enragés.

The Committed Ones
Les Engagés
AbbreviationLE
PresidentYvan Verougstraete (acting)
Founded17 March 2022; 3 years ago (2022-03-17)
Preceded byHumanist Democratic Centre
HeadquartersNational secretariat
Rue du Commerce, 123, Brussels
Think tankCentre d'études politiques économiques et sociales [fr]
IdeologySocial liberalism[1]
Political positionCentre
European affiliationEuropean Democratic Party
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
Flemish counterpartChristian Democratic and Flemish
Colours  Turquoise
SloganPour une société régénérée
('For a regenerated society')
Chamber of Representatives
(French-speaking seats)
14 / 61
Senate
(French-speaking seats)
4 / 24
Walloon Parliament
17 / 75
Parliament of the French Community
19 / 94
Brussels Parliament
(French-speaking seats)
8 / 72
European Parliament
(French-speaking seats)
1 / 8
Website
lesengages.be

Les Engagés[2][3] (LE, [lez‿ɑ̃ɡaʒe] ⓘ, lit. 'The Committed Ones') is a centrist[4] French-speaking political party in Belgium.[5][6] The party originated in the split in 1972 of the unitary Christian Social Party (PSC-CVP), which had been the country's governing party for much of the post-war period. It continued to be called the Christian Social Party (French: Parti Social Chrétien, PSC) until 2002 when it was renamed the Humanist Democratic Centre (French: Centre Démocrate Humaniste, CDH). It took its current name on 17 March 2022,[7] and currently is a member of the governing national coalition in Belgium, along with the Walloon and French Community coalition governments.[8]

History

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The PSC was officially founded in 1972. The foundation was the result of the split of the unitary Christian Social Party (PSC-CVP) into the Dutch-speaking Christian People's Party (CVP) and the French-speaking Christian Social Party (PSC), following the increased linguistic tensions after the crisis at the Catholic University of Leuven in 1968. The PSC performed particularly badly in the 1999 general election. This was linked to several scandals, such as the escape of Marc Dutroux and the discovery of dioxins in chickens (the PSC was a coalition partner in the Dehaene government). The decline in votes was also explained by declining adherence to Catholicism. The party was confined to opposition on all levels of government.

The party started a process of internal reform. In 2001, a new charter of principles, the "Charter of Democratic Humanism," was adopted and in 2002 the party adopted a new constitution and a new name, Humanist Democratic Centre. On 17 March 2022, the party changed to its current name and political colors. On 10 October 2022, Virginie Lefrancq, a Brussels MP, announced that she was leaving Les Engagés, feeling politically orphaned.[9]

After the 2024 European Parliament election in Belgium, Les Engagés sole elected MEP, Yvan Verougstraete, announced that he would sit with the Renew Europe group; the party subsequently withdrew from the European People's Party and joined the European Democratic Party.[10] In the European Committee of the Regions, its members sit with the Renew Europe CoR Group.

Ideology

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The party considers itself to be a movement rather than a party, and calls for citizen-led initiatives and more engagement between the public and politicians.[11] The party has dropped all its Christian references and now defines itself as a party working for the "common good";[12] it has subsequently withdrawn from the Christian Democratic European People's Party (EPP) and joined the centrist European Democratic Party (EDP).[10]

On its manifesto, the party supports NATO, the EU, secularism and LGBT rights.[13] Les Engagés supports intensifying awareness and information campaigns on gender and homosexuality, as well as the reimbursement of gynecological and andrological care for trans people.[14]

Electoral positioning

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During the 2019 election campaign, the RePresent research centre — composed of political scientists from five universities (UAntwerpen, KU Leuven, VUB, UCLouvain and ULB)[15][16] — studied the electoral programmes of Belgium's thirteen main political parties. This study classified the parties on two "left-right" axes, from "-5" (extreme left) to "5" (extreme right): a "classic" socio-economic axis, which refers to state intervention in the economic process and the degree to which the state should ensure social equality, and a socio-cultural axis, which refers to a divide articulated around an identity-based opposition on themes such as immigration, Europe, crime, the environment, emancipation, etc.[16]

The cdH then presented a rather centrist programme (−1.04) on the socio-economic level, and centre-left (−1.83) on the socio-cultural level.[16][17]

The RePresent centre repeated the exercise during the 2024 election campaign for the twelve main parties. The party's positioning – renamed "Les Engagés" in 2022 – shifted towards the right, becoming the most centrist party of the Belgian political spectrum, both on the socio-economic axis (0.24) and on the socio-cultural axis (−0.77).[18]

Election results

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Chamber of Representatives

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Election Leader Votes % Seats +/- Government
2024 Maxime Prévot 472,755 6.77 (#8)
14 / 150
 New Coalition

Regional

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Brussels Parliament

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Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
2024 41,640 10.7 (#4)
8 / 89
 Increase 2 TBA

Walloon Parliament

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Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
2024 427,479 20.7 (#3)
17 / 75
 Increase 7 Coalition

European Parliament

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Election List leader Votes % Seats +/- EP Group
F.E.C. Overall
2024 Yvan Verougstraete 368,668 14.28 (#4) 5.17
1 / 22
 Steady 0 RE

Presidents

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References

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  1. ^ Clevers, Antoine. "Entre CDH et Défi, des convergences, mais aussi de vrais éléments de blocage". La Libre.be (in French). Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Le CDH n'est plus. Voici "Les Engagés"". Le Soir (in French). 12 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  3. ^ ""Les engagés" : nouveau nom et nouveau projet pour le cdH au terme d'une réflexion citoyenne". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  4. ^ Flandre, Flandreinfo be-L'Actu de (13 March 2022). "Ne dites plus "cdH" mais bien "Les Engagés" : le centre démocrate humaniste se régénère et change de nom". vrtnws.be (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  5. ^ Billiet, Jaak; Maddens, Bart; Frognier, André-Paul (2006). "Does Belgium (still) exist? Differences in political culture between Flemings and Walloons". West European Politics. 29 (5): 912–932. doi:10.1080/01402380600968802. S2CID 154393064.
  6. ^ Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2009). Political Marketing: Principles and Applications. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-415-43129-3.
  7. ^ "Le CDH change de nom mais "Les Engagés" ne le sont pas encore #officiellement à Liège". 17 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Les Engagés ont annoncé leurs ministres des gouvernements de la Wallonie et de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles". 14 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Les Engagés perdent une de leurs cinq parlementaires bruxellois". Le Soir (in French). 5 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Les Engagés ont quitté le PPE". Le Soir (in French). 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Le Mouvement".
  12. ^ "Questions de principes : Les Engagés, un mouvement du "bien commun" en rupture avec ses racines chrétiennes". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  13. ^ Engagés, Les. "Régénération des libertés". Les Engagés (in French). Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  14. ^ Engagés, Les. "Déconstruire les préjugés liés à l'orientation sexuelle". Les Engagés (in French). Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  15. ^ Jordens, Natacha. "EOS research project RepResent – ULB". ULB. Archived from the original on 10 October 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  16. ^ a b c Clevers, Antoine (12 October 2025). "Les résultats des élections sont trompeurs, Flamands et Wallons ont des opinions politiques assez proches". La Libre.be (in French). Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  17. ^ Tassin, Stéphane (12 October 2025). "Voici le positionnement des partis selon les critères économiques et sociétaux (INFOGRAPHIE)". La Libre.be (in French). Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  18. ^ Woelfle, Guillaume. "Évolution du positionnement des partis depuis 2019 : le virage (très) à droite du MR, le PS et les Engagés un peu moins à gauche – RTBF Actus". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 12 October 2025.
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