Pieter De Crem
Pieter De Crem (born July 22, 1962 in Aalter ) is a Belgian politician of the Christians Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V). Since December 9, 2018 he has been the Belgian Minister of the Interior. Before that, he had been State Secretary for Foreign Trade since October 2014. From 2007 to 2014 he was Belgian Defense Minister . De Crem is a longstanding member of the Chamber of Deputies .
Life
De Crem first received a license in Romance Philology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) before he obtained his license in international and European law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). After completing his studies in 1987, he worked for a publisher for two years.
De Crem's political career began in 1989 as chairman of the “CVP jongeren” (youth association of today's CD&V) in Gent - Eeklo . At the same time he was an advisor in the cabinet of Prime Minister Wilfried Martens (CVP) (1989 to 1992). He then moved to the cabinet of the then Defense Minister, Leo Delcroix (CVP) (1992 to 1993). After retreating into private industry, he was elected a member of parliament in 1995 , where he took over the role of chairman of the CD&V parliamentary group in the opposition from 2003. There he stood out for his criticism of the policy of the then Defense Minister, André Flahaut ( PS ). When the CD&V and its cartel partner at the time, N-VA, made the leap from the opposition to the majority after the 2007 elections, De Crem took over the post of Defense Minister in the federal transitional government Verhofstadt III on December 21, 2007 . He kept it in the governments that followed Leterme I , Van Rompuy , Leterme II and Di Rupo . His disagreements with Flahaut regularly hit the headlines.
In the federal government under Charles Michel ( MR ), Pieter De Crem has been State Secretary for Foreign Trade since October 2014.
At the local level, Pieter De Crem has been the mayor of Aalter since 1994 . However, he has been unable to hold this post since he took office.
Defense Minister
During the transitional government of Verhofstadt III, De Crem revised the AIV's 90 purchase agreement sponsored by his predecessor André Flahaut. His statement from 2008 caused a sensation when he confirmed that there are nuclear weapons at the American base in Kleine-Brogel . Traditionally, this was neither expressly confirmed nor denied by any of De Crem's predecessors.
During the Leterme I government, the number of military personnel in international missions rose by 1200 permanently and on an annual basis. De Crem published a political guide in which he described the objectives for the planned transformation of the Belgian armed forces. The Van Rompuy government approved the measures proposed by De Crem: closing 23 barracks, reducing the number of troops on active duty to 34,000 and restructuring the units.
The highlights of De Crem's tenure in the Leterme II government were the informal summit of defense ministers of the European Union in Ghent , the inauguration of the EATC (European Air Transport Command) in Eindhoven and the participation of Belgian armed forces in the civil war in Libya .
Awards
Pieter De Crem is Grand Officer of the Order of the Leopold .
On January 8, 2013, De Crem received the Grand Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon from the German Ambassador to Belgium, Eckart Cuntz, of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . This award was given to him by Federal President Joachim Gauck because of his efforts to improve military cooperation between the two countries.
Overview of political offices
- 1994 - today : Mayor of Aalter (partially prevented)
- 1995 - today : Member of the federal Chamber of Deputies (partially prevented)
- 2007 - 2014: Federal Minister of Defense in the governments of Verhofstadt III , Leterme I , Van Rompuy , Leterme II and Di Rupo (since 2013 also Deputy Prime Minister)
- 2014 - 2018: Federal State Secretary for Foreign Trade in the Michel government
- 2018 - today : Belgian Minister of the Interior in the Michel II and Wilmès governments
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lalibre.be: La guerre Flahaut-De Crem (December 24, 2007) (French)
- ↑ Lalibre.be: Flahaut: De Crem a une façon de travailler tout à fait curieuse (October 23, 2009) (French)
- ↑ Het Laatste Nieuws: De Crem: Kernwapens op basis Kleine Brogel (23 January 2008) (ndl.)
- ↑ Standaard.be: Duitse ambassadeur eert De Crem as 'perfecte Europeaan' (January 8, 2013) (ndl.)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | De Crem, Pieter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian minister and mayor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 22, 1962 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Aalter |