Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte (born 6 July 1955) is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005. He handed down his leadership positions after the SP.A lost in the 2007 general election. Between 1995 and 2014, he served more than 13 years as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

, the longest period for a Flemish socialist after WW II. In his last term he served as the Minister of Economy, Consumer affairs and North Sea in the Di Rupo I Government. With the formation of a new Centre-Right federal government, which excluded his party, Johan Vande Lanotte returned to local politics in October 2014 in Ostend, where he took up his position as

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

for the economy and tourism at Ostend City Council. From August 2015 until the end of 2018 Vande Lanotte was the mayor of

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

. During his political career he continued to work as a professor at the University of Ghent, specialized in Constitutional Law and Human Rights. Since 2019, he is a lawyer (senior legal advisor) in the law office Van Steenbrugge in Gent. He was the initiator of the Turkey Tribunal held in Geneva in September 2021

Studies

In 1978 he graduated magna cum laude in Political and Social Sciences, option: Sociology (Master's degree) from 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 ...

. In 1981 he added, again magna cum laude, a master in Law at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish government. listof all ...

. He graduated as Doctor in Law at the

Ghent University 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 th ...

in 1986. The subject of his dissertation was ''decentralisation in the Belgian political context''. It was awarded with the Prize of the Belgian Institute for Administrative Sciences. During his doctorate, he studied at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law (

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

) with the Von Calcken scholarship of the Council of Europe, at the

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

University (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

), the Leiden University (

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) and the

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke (French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It i ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Curriculum

Professional

*1978–1981: City of

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

administration. *1982–1983: assistant at the department of Political and Social Sciences of the

. *1983–1987: assistant at the Law department of the

. *1986: apprentice lawyer in Ghent. *1987–1990: assistant auditor and auditor at the

Council of State (Belgium) Council of State (Dutch: , french: Conseil d'État, german: Staatsrat), is the supreme administrative court of Belgium. Its functions include assisting the executive with legal advice and being the supreme court for administrative justice. Its memb ...

*since 1988: part-time professor public law at the Ghent University *1988–1991: part-time professor public law at the Ghent University, combined with a part-time professorship at the

. *since 1991: part-time professor public law at the Ghent University, combined *2010–2012: president of the non-governmental organization

Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC) Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC) is a nonprofit organization with a membership of around 500 institutions, NGOs and experts, in 40 countries. Its network at large involves about 2500 professionals involved in coastal and marine management issues. Fou ...

Political

*1988–1991: Chief of cabinet of the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

*1991–1994:

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

*1994–1995:

and of Civil Service Affairs *1995–1998:

and

*1998–1999:

*1999–2003: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget, Social Integration and Social Economy *2003–2005: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget and Public Enterprises *2005–2007: SP.a party president *2005–2007:

*Since 2006: Minister of State (honorary title) *2007–2011: Senator *2011–2014:

and Minister of Economy, Consumer affairs and North Sea *2015–2018: mayor of Ostend *2018-present: Senior Legal Counsel- Lawyer

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vande Lanotte, Johan 1955 births Living people Politicians from Ostend Members of the Belgian Federal Parliament Socialistische Partij Anders politicians Belgian socialists Politicians from Ghent Belgian Ministers of State Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni University of Antwerp alumni Ghent University alumni Ghent University faculty 21st-century Belgian politicians