Rent Smet
Maria Bertha Petrus "Miet" Smet (born April 5, 1943 in Sint-Niklaas , East Flanders , Belgium ) is a Belgian politician of the Christian Democratic Vlaams (CD&V).
biography
The daughter of the Christian Democratic Senator Albert Smet was a co-founder of the Christian Democratic women's organization Vrouw en Maatschappij in 1973 and then its first chairwoman until 1982. In 1978 she was first elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies .
In November 1985, she was supported by Prime Minister Wilfried Martens to the Secretary of State for Environment and social emancipation in the sixth Cabinet appointed and held this position also in its seventh , eighth and ninth government until March 1992 and was last January to March 1992 at the same time Secretary of State for work and employment.
In the subsequent government of Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene , she became Minister for Employment and Labor in March 1992 and, as such, was also in charge of gender equality policy. She also held this position in Dehaene's second cabinet until the end of Dehaene's term in office in July 1999.
An internal party conflict arose in 1999 when the former Prime Minister Martens was not given first place on the CD&V list for the 1999 European elections . Under pressure from his second wife Ilse Schouteden, Martens renounced second place on the candidate list, especially since both Miet Smet and Ilse Schouteden were Martens' lovers during his first marriage to Lieve Vershoeven.
Between 1999 and 2004 she was a member of the 5th European Parliament . During this time she also became Vice-Chair of the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA) in 2001 .
For her political merits, she was awarded the honorary title of Minister of State on January 28, 2002 , and thus membership in the Privy Council .
After leaving the European Parliament , she was elected a member of the Flemish Parliament in 2004, to which she was a member until 2009. At the same time, she was an envoy from the Flemish Parliament between 2007 and 2009 and a member of the Senate for the 2007 to 2011 electoral term .
Miet Smet was married to ex-Prime Minister Wilfried Martens from 2008 until his death.
In 2001 Miet Smet was also awarded the Great Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . In 2002 she was awarded the title of Grand Officer of the Order of the Leopold .
Overview of political offices
- 1978–1995: Member of the Chamber of Deputies (partially prevented)
- 1979–1995: Member of the Flemish Parliament (partially prevented)
- 1985–1992: State Secretary for Environment and Social Emancipation in the Martens VI , Martens VII , Martens VIII and Martens IX governments
- 1992: State Secretary for the Environment, Social Emancipation, Employment and Labor in the Martens IX government
- 1992–1999: Federal Minister for Employment and Labor, in charge of gender equality policy in the Dehaene I and Dehaene II governments
- 1995–1999: Senator (partially prevented)
- 1999–2004: Member of the European Parliament
- 2004–2009: Member of the Flemish Parliament
- 2007–2009: Senator
Web links
- Private homepage of Miet Smet
- Homepage of the Belgian Senate
- Entry for Miet Smet in the database of Members of the European Parliament
Individual evidence
- ↑ EUROPE: Martens refuses to run (May 1, 1999) ( Memento of January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ THE GUARDIAN: Love tangle is final undoing of former Belgian PM. Piqued Belgian quits European elections after party tells him to take second place to his ex-mistress (March 7, 1999)
- ^ Nieuwsblad.be: Wilfried Martens en Miet Smet getrouwd (September 27, 2008) (ndl.); Lalibre.be: Wilfried, Miet et les médias (October 17, 2008) (French)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smet, rent |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Smet, Maria Bertha Petrus (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian politician (CD&V), MEP |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 5, 1943 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sint-Niklaas , East Flanders , Belgium |