Barbara Pas (born 1 March 1981) is a
Belgian politician and a member of the
Chamber of Representatives for
Vlaams Belang. Pas previously served as national chairwoman of the ''
Vlaams Belang Jongeren
''Vlaams Belang Jongeren'' (VBJ; Dutch for "Flemish Interest Youth") is the youth wing of the Vlaams Belang party. Until the conviction of the Vlaams Blok in 2004, the organisation was called Vlaams Blok Jongeren. When the party changed its name, ...
.''
Early life
Pas was born in
Temse, Belgium, in 1981. She studied a degree in engineering at the
Catholic University of Leuven
University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to:
* Old University of Leuven (1425–1797)
* State University of Leuven (1817–1835)
* Catholic University of ...
during which she was a member of the Flemish nationalist
Nationalistische Studentenvereniging The Nationalistische Studentenvereniging (NSV) (Dutch; "Nationalist Student Association") is a far-right Flemish nationalist student political group in Belgium, with chapters in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Leuven, West Flanders (including Bruges, R ...
and the
Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (KVHV) or the Catholic Flemish Students' Union is a political student society which concerns Flemish nationalism and conservatism. It accepts male and female members and has chapters in Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp, ...
groups.
Political career
Pas served as the president of the
Vlaams Belang Jongeren
''Vlaams Belang Jongeren'' (VBJ; Dutch for "Flemish Interest Youth") is the youth wing of the Vlaams Belang party. Until the conviction of the Vlaams Blok in 2004, the organisation was called Vlaams Blok Jongeren. When the party changed its name, ...
, the youth wing of the Vlaams Belang from October 2009 to March 2012. She was elected to the
Chamber of Representatives in 2007. Since December 2012, she has been national vice-president of Vlaams Belang. In April 2013, she succeeded
Gerolf Annemans
Gerolf Emma Jozef Annemans (born 8 November 1958) is a Belgian lawyer, journalist and politician of the Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang (VB) and formerly of its predecessor, the Vlaams Blok. He has been a member of the European Parliame ...
the VB's group leader in the Chamber of Representatives for the Flemish Interest. She continued this until May 2014, when her party did not have enough MPs to have another fraction. She was reappointed to the role again in 2019, after Vlaams Belang did get enough members for a parliamentary faction again.
Barbara Pas volgt Annemans op als Kamerfractieleider
deredactie.be, 25 april 2013 In 2020, Pas expressed criticism of moves by the Black Lives Matter protests in Belgium to remove statues of Leopold II, King of the Belgians
* german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor
, house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
, father = Leopold I of Belgium
, mother = Louise of Orléans
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Brussels, Belgium
, death_date = ...
in public spaces. She argued that while she is a republican and that Leopold had oppressed the Flemish community, she also believed that statues of historical figure should remain, and stated that "It bothers me that an American incident is being imported here." Pas has also negotiated with Bart De Wever to end the '' cordon sanitaire'' applied to the VB and believes it will be lifted by 2024 as both the VB and the N-VA
The New Flemish Alliance ( nl, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was founded in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU).
T ...
will gain enough votes to work together.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pas, Barbara
Living people
21st-century Belgian women politicians
21st-century Belgian politicians
1981 births
Vlaams Belang politicians
Members of the Belgian Federal Parliament
Flemish politicians
People from Temse
Belgian deputies of the 55th legislature