Joséphine Rebecca Marie Julienne Bertha "Fientje" Moerman (born 19 October 1958) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

liberal politician and currently a judge on the

Constitutional Court of Belgium The Constitutional Court (Dutch: , french: Cour constitutionelle, german: Verfassungsgerichtshof) plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980. Its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003. Hi ...

Education

In 1981 Fientje Moerman obtained a master's degree in law. She studied law at the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

(

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 ...

) and at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Professional career

She started her career as a lawyer in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

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 ...

(1982–1984). Afterwards she became editor economy and finances for the journal

De Standaard ''De Standaard'' (meaning ''The Standard'' in English) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and F ...

(1984–1985). Halfway the eighties of the twentieth century she was the spokeswoman of the European liberals in the European parliament and then consultant of the French former-president

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

(1985–1991). Afterwards she was senior consultant in the European liberal fraction, was specialized in institutional reforms and relations with

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the Gulf States (1991–1995). During 1994-1995 she was member of the Tindemans group. Between 1988 and 1995 she also was municipal councillor and from 1995 up to 1999

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of Ghent for education. In 1999, she was elected to the Chamber of Representatives. In 2003, she joined the government Verhofstadt II as Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy, but in July 2004 she left the Federal Government to become the Flemish Minister of Economy, Enterprises, Innovation, Science and Foreign Trade. She was also Deputy Minister-President of the

Flemish Government The Flemish Government ( nl, Vlaamse regering ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament, a ...

Hiring scandal and resignation

In August 2007, Moerman became embroiled in a scandal around the hiring of experts for her cabinet. Her former chief of staff Aernoudt accused her of tampering with the rules for public procurement. After a negative report around the case by the Flemish ombudsman, on 10 October 2007 Fientje Moerman resigned due to the fallout of the hiring scandal; she was replaced as vice-minister-president by Dirk Van Mechelen and as minister by

Patricia Ceysens Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United State ...

. After her resignation as minister she served as member of the Flemish Parliament (2008-2014). After the regional elections of 2014 Moerman returned to the European civil service (2014-2018).

Judicial career

In 2018 Fientje Moerman was appointed by royal decree of 18 March 2018 as a judge on the Constitutional Court of Belgium.

Personal life

She identifies herself as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. Koen Dillen and

Frank Vanhecke Frank Arthur Hyppolite Vanhecke (born 30 May 1959) is a Belgian politician. Vanhecke started his career in Belgian politics as a student by joining the Jong Studentenverbond and later the Nationalistische Studentenvereniging. He gave up his m ...

, "Al bij al heb ik gelukkig geleefd. Het bewogen leven van

Marie-Rose Morel Marie Rose Louise Constant Morel (26 August 1972 – 8 February 2011) was a Flemish-Belgian politician. She became a member of the Flemish Parliament for the Vlaams Belang in 2004, after leaving the New-Flemish Alliance. In 1994, Morel was ele ...

", Standaard Uitgeverij, 2011, p. 146.

Sources

Minister Fientje Moerman

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moerman, Fientje 1958 births Belgian politicians Flemish politicians Ghent University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Living people Belgian atheists 21st-century Belgian politicians 21st-century Belgian women politicians Flemish lawyers