Bart Hubert Wilfried Marcel Staes (; born 7 August 1958), is a Belgian politician who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

from 1999 until 2019. He is a member of

Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.

, part of the European Greens. After studying in

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 ...

and qualifying as a teacher (Dutch/English/Economics), Staes turned to politics, beginning his political career in the

Volksunie People's Union ( nl, Volksunie, VU) was a Flemish nationalist political party in Belgium, formed in 1954 as a successor to the Christian Flemish People's Union. The Volksunie defined itself as a big tent and catch-all party that combined suppor ...

, which later became

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

. Following the formation of the electoral alliance (''cartel'') between Spirit and the

Socialistische Partij Anders Vooruit (Dutch for Forward, ) is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. The party was known as the Flemish Socialist Party (1978–2001: ''Socialistische Partij'', SP; 2001–2021: ''Socialistische Partij Anders'', SP.A) until ...

(sp.a) in 2002, Staes moved to join Agalev (as it was then known; today, Groen). He has been a Member of the European Parliament continuously since 1999, at first for the Volksunie, later Spirit and now Groen. His particular interests are the environment and peace movements.

Political history

His political career started with membership of the

, with the collapse of that party in 2002 he joined Groen!.

European Parliament

Staes was first elected into the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and was reelected, as only member from his party, in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. During his time in parliament, he was part of The Greens–European Free Alliance transnational political group together with MEPs for the GreenLeft. He served on the Committee on Budgetary Control and the

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety may refer to: * European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) is a committee of ...

Career

Politics Curriculum: *Member Party Council VolksunieJongeren (1980–1981) and (1984–1987) *Member of the VU-party-council (1984–1987) and (1995–2001) *Second follower VU-senate list (1995–1999) *Member Spirit-party presidency (2001–2002) *Mandatory of Agalev/Groen (July 2002 - ) *Member of party council of Groen (2003 - ) *Member of European parliament (1999 - ) *Member of fraction Greens/European Free Alliance (Groenen/Europese Vrije Alliantie) *Member of Budget Control Commission *Instant member of Commission Environmental gestion, Public Health and Food security *Member of Parliamentary cooperative commission EU-Russia *Instant member of Parliamentary cooperative commission EU-Central-Asia *initiator of the Intergroup Chechnya *Author of manifesto from the

Gravensteengroep The Gravensteengroep is a group of Flemish artists and intellectuals established to promote the Flemish demands for more autonomy. The group comprises persons of varying political views, who do share basic values such as democracy and human right ...

*Publication ''Het vlees is zwak'' with Jaak Vandemeulebroucke, Hadewijch, Antwerp, 1996 *''Echo's voor een ander Europa'', Houtekiet, Antwerp, 2004 *''Voor een ander Europa'', Houtekiet, Antwerp, 2009 *''GGO's: Droom of werkelijkheid'', Houtekiet, Antwerp, 2012

Timeline

*13 June 1999 – : Flag of Europe

Member of European Parliament

External links

* 1958 births Living people People from Izegem Groen (political party) MEPs Groen (political party) politicians MEPs for Belgium 1999–2004 MEPs for Belgium 2004–2009 MEPs for Belgium 2009–2014 MEPs for Belgium 2014–2019 {{Flanders-politician-stub