Events from the year 1997 in Belgium

Incumbents

Jean-Luc Dehaene Jean Luc Joseph Marie "Jean-Luc" Dehaene (; 7 August 1940 – 15 May 2014) was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1992 until 1999. During his political career, he was nicknamed "The Plumber" and "The Minesweep ...

Events

* 27 February – Closure of

Vilvoorde Renault Factory Renault Industrie Belgique S.A. / Renault Industrie België N.V., officially shortened with the acronym RIB, opened in 1931 as an auto-assembly plant owned and operated by Renault in Vilvoorde on the northern edge of Brussels in Belgium. It wa ...

announced, with a loss of 3,100 jobs, inspiring the following year's

Procédure Renault The ''"Procédure Renault"'' is a term referring to a Belgian Labour law of 13 February 1998 related to collective redundancies. It foresees a legally mandatory consultation period when an employer intends to proceed with a collective redundancy, as ...

, a new consultation procedure for mass redundancies.

Publications

* Bianca Booms and Jean-Paul Wydoodt, ''Alcohol, illegale drugs en medicatie: Recente ontwikkelingen in Vlaanderen, 1996''.

Births

* 1 July –

Eléonor Sana Eléonor Sana (born 1 July 1997) is a Belgian visually impaired alpine skier. Sana won a bronze medal in the women's visually impaired downhill event during the 2018 Winter Paralympics, her first Paralympic medal after competing in her maiden P ...

, skier * 15 October –

Romanie Schotte Romanie Schotte is a Belgian model and beauty pageant titleholder from Bruges who was crowned Miss Belgium 2017 and represented Belgium at the Miss World 2017 pageant. Miss Belgium 2017 Schotte, at the time a 19-year-old Business Management stude ...

, Miss Belgium 2017 * 30 September –

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

and the 2021

Formula One World Champion A Formula One World Champion is a racing driver or automobile constructor which has been designated such a title by the governing body of Formula One - the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Every Formula One World Champion since t ...

Deaths

* 5 January – André Franquin (born 1924), comics artist * 19 January –

Robert-Joseph Mathen Robert-Joseph Mathen (1916–1997) was the 28th Bishop of Namur in Belgium. Mathen was born in Aubange on 30 December 1916, and was educated at Collège Saint-Joseph de Virton. He entered the seminary and was ordained to the priesthood on 25 Au ...

(born 1916), bishop * 15 June – Edmond Leburton (born 1915), prime minister

References

{{Year in Europe, 1997 Belgium Years of the 20th century in Belgium 1990s in Belgium Belgium