Events from the year 2003 in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Incumbents

Monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

: Albert II *

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

: Guy Verhofstadt

Events

;February * 1 February –

Lucas Van Looy Lucas Van Looy S.D.B. (born 28 September 1941) is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Bishop of Ghent from 2004 to 2019. He worked as a missionary in South Korea for more than a decade and held leadership positions with the Salesian ...

consecrated as

bishop of Ghent The Diocese of Ghent (Latin: ''Dioecesis Gandavensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropoli ...

* 15 February – 70,000 people march through the streets of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

as part of the global anti-war protest. ;April * 12 April – Wedding of Prince Laurent and Claire Coombs ;May * 15 May –

Art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

cinema De Roma in

Borgerhout Borgerhout () is the smallest district of Antwerp, Belgium. , the district houses 45,769 inhabitants on 3,93 km². It was an independent municipality until January 1983. The postal area code for Borgerhout is 2140. Geography Borgerhout is divided ...

reopens as a cultural centre and performance venue * 18 May –

Belgian federal election, 2003 Federal elections were held in Belgium on 18 May 2003, the first under a new electoral code. One of the novelties was an electoral threshold of 5%, which has cost many seats to the N-VA and the Green parties, Ecolo and Agalev. The Belgian Soci ...

;June * 1 June – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Belgium ;July * 12 July –

Verhofstadt II Government The Verhofstadt II Government was the federal government of Belgium from 12 July 2003 to 21 December 2007. It was the second government headed by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt ( VLD). It was formed after the 2003 general election. It consist ...

sworn in ;September * 7 September –

Guy Harpigny Guy Harpigny (born 13 April 1948 in Luttre, Belgium) is a Belgian Bishop of the Catholic Church. He was ordained to the priesthood on 7 July 1973. On 22 May 2003 he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Tournai by Pope John Paul II ...

consecrated as

bishop of Tournai The Diocese of Tournai is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. The diocese was formed in 1146, upon the dissolution of the Diocese of Noyon & Tournai, which had existed since the 7th Century. It is ...

;October * 1 October – Merger between 3 universities leads to the establishment of the

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp ( nl, Universiteit Antwerpen) is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UA'', but ''UAntwerpen'' is more recently used. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 stud ...

Births

* 23 April –

Princess Laetitia Maria of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning wiktionary:principal, principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. ...

, fifth child of

Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este (born 16 December 1955) is a member of the Belgian royal family as the husband of Princess Astrid of Belgium. He is the head of the House of Austria-Este, a cadet branch of the House of Habsbur ...

and

Princess Astrid of Belgium Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este (born 5 June 1962), is the second child and first daughter of King Albert II and Queen Paola, and the younger sister to the current Belgian monarch, King Philippe. She is married to Pri ...

* 20 August –

Prince Gabriel of Belgium nl, Gabriël Boudewijn Karel Maria , image = Gabriël van België.png , caption = Picture released by the Belgian Royal Household on the Prince's birthday in 2022 , birth_date = , birth_place = Erasmus Hospital, Anderlecht, ...

, second child of

Philippe of Belgium french: Philippe Léopold Louis Mariegerman: Philipp Leopold Ludwig Maria , house = Belgium , father = Albert II of Belgium , mother = Paola Ruffo di Calabria , birth_date = , birth_place = Belvédère Castle, Laeken, B ...

(then Duke of Brabant) and Mathilde of Belgium

Deaths

;January * 8 January - Franz Drappier comic book writer * 11 January - Bob Maertens soccer player * 22 January - Georges Mommerency politician * 29 January - Louis Baret singer and comedian ;February * 4 February ** Pierre Carteus soccer player ** André Noyelle cyclist * 6 February - Mark Braet poet and politician * 9 February - René Uyttendaele mayor * 26 February **

Christian Goethals Christian Roger Xavier Marie Joseph Ghislain Goethals (4 August 1928 in Heule – 26 February 2003 in Kortrijk) was a racing driver from Belgium. Goethals competed as an amateur in sports car races, driving a Porsche Spyder during the 1950s. ...

race-car driver ** Michel Van Maele mayor ;March * 11 March - Jacques Yerna politician * 31 March - Theo Mertens trumpet player ;April * 3 April - Karel Boumans comic book writer * 17 April -

Jeff Schell Jozef Stefaan "Jeff", Baron Schell (20 July 1935 – 17 April 2003) was a Belgian molecular biologist. Schell studied zoology and microbiology at the University of Ghent, Belgium. From 1967 to 1995 he worked as a professor at the university. Fro ...

molecular biologist * 20 April - Henri Lemaître papal diplomat ;May * 15 May **

Rik Van Steenbergen Rik Van Steenbergen (9 September 1924 – 15 May 2003) was a Belgium, Belgian racing cyclist, considered to be one of the best among the great number of successful Belgian cyclists. Early life Van Steenbergen was born in Arendonk into a po ...

cyclist ** Marcel Thielemans singer and trombone player * 22 May - Albert Mettens soccer player ;June * 1 June - André Lootens mayor * 26 June - Gerard Gaudaen wood carver ;July * 18 July - Daniël Van Avermaet TV presenter ;August * 1 August -

Guy Thys Guy Thys (6 December 1922 – 1 August 2003) was a Belgian football manager, mostly known for being the most successful manager in the history of the Belgium national football team as he managed to lead the national side to their only UEFA ...

soccer manager * 5 August -

Maurice Mollin Maurice Mollin (6 May 1924 – 5 August 2003) was a Belgian racing cyclist. He rode in the 1947 and 1948 Tour de France. He finished in fifth place in the 1957 Paris–Roubaix. Major results ;1946 : 8th Schaal Sels ;1947 : 7th Brussel-In ...

cyclist ;September * 4 September -

Lola Bobesco Lola Violeta Ana-Maria Bobesco (9 August 1921– 4 September 2003) was a Belgian violinist of Romanian origin. She was born in Craiova, Romania, and began her career as a child prodigy, giving her first recital there at the age of 6 with her fath ...

violinist * 8 September - August Vanistendael union leader and politician * 22 September ** Maxime Brunfaut architect **

Armand Pien Armand Pien (Gent, 2 January 1920 – Gent, 22 September 2003) was a Belgian weatherman for 37 years. He was popular because his weather predictions were funny and somewhat cryptic. His show, "The Weather", was broadcast twice a week. It was descri ...

weather man and TV presenter ;October * 29 October - Albert Cool mayor * 30 October - Antoon Roosens philosopher ;November * 11 November -

Paul Janssen Paul Adriaan Jan, Baron Janssen (12 September 1926 - 11 November 2003) was a Belgian physician. He was the founder of Janssen Pharmaceutica, a pharmaceutical company with over 20,000 employees which is now a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Ea ...

, founder of

Janssen Pharmaceutica Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American ...

;December * 8 December - Charly Talbot politician * 11 December -

Ann Petersen Ann Petersen (22 June 1927 – 11 December 2003) was a Belgian actress. She was especially noted for her roles in ''Home Sweet Home'', '' Pauline & Paulette'', the children's serial ''Samson & Gert'', '' Captain Zeppos'', ''Wij, Heren van Ziche ...

actress

References

{{Year in Europe, 2003 Years of the 21st century in Belgium

2000s in Belgium

Incumbents

Events

Births

Deaths

See also

References