Elke Sleurs

Elke Inge Jan Sleurs (born February 6, 1968 in Gent ) is a Belgian gynecologist and politician of the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA). Until February 2017 she was State Secretary for Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunities, Science Policy and Large Cities in the federal government of Michel . Before that, she was represented in the Senate for the N-VA since 2010 . At the local level she is a councilor in Ghent.

Life

Elke Sleurs studied medicine and gynecology at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and specialized at Michigan State University . She then worked at the Brussels University Clinic before moving to the Ghent University Clinic.

In her youth she was already a member of Volksuniejongeren (Vujo), the youth movement of the Flemish nationalist party Volksunie . She only entered active politics in 2010, when she was elected to the Senate for the N-VA. There she temporarily took over the chairmanship of the committee for social affairs and wrote various interventions on the subject of the legalization of euthanasia .

In the so-called "Sweden Coalition", the federal government under Prime Minister Charles Michel ( MR ), Elke Sleurs finally received the post of State Secretary for Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunities, Disability and Science Policy and Combating Tax Fraud in October 2014. However, on May 21, 2015, she gave her final responsibility to her party colleague Johan Van Overtveldt and in return received the politics of the big cities from Interior Minister Jan Jambon ; the restructuring was justified with the need to "undertake more homogeneous distribution of powers".

After chamber chairman Siegfried Bracke (N-VA) decided in February 2017, due to an affair about his part-time consultancy work at Telenet , to forego the N-VA's top candidacy in the local council elections in Ghent, Elke Sleurs was proclaimed the party's mayoral candidate. In pursuit, she decided to step down as State Secretary in order to better prepare for the local elections in 2018. Her successor in the federal government was her party colleague Zuhal Demir .

At the local level, Sleurs has been a member of Ghent City Council since 2012, where she replaced Tony Van Parys ( CD&V ).

Overview of political offices

• 2007 - 2008: Member of the ÖHSZ council in Ghent
• 2010-2014: Senator
• 2012 - today : Member of the Ghent Municipal Council
• 2014 - today : Member of the Flemish Parliament (partially prevented)
• 2014 - 2015: State Secretary for Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunities, Disability and Science Policy and Combating Tax Fraud in the Michel government
• 2015 - 2017: State Secretary for Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunities, Disability and Science Policy and Large Cities in the Michel government

Web links

• Official website of Elke Sleurs
• Profile of Elke Sleurs on the N-VA website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ HLN.be: N-VA is voor euthanasie voor kinderen (January 14, 2013) (Dutch).
2. ↑ DeMorgen.be: Sleurs (N-VA): "Dit is geen degradatie" ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (May 21, 2015) (Dutch).  
3. ↑ Nieuwsblad.be: Niet Siegfried Bracke, maar Elke Sleurs trekt lijst Gentse N-VA (February 20, 2017) (Dutch).
4. ^ Nieuwsblad.be: Elke Sleurs (N-VA) volgt Tony Van Parys (CD&V) op in Gentse gemeenteraad (November 24, 2012) (Dutch).