Joke Schauvliege (born in

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 in ...

on 16 March 1970) 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 language ...

politician from

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, ...

Career

She has been

schepen A schepen (Dutch; . ') or échevin (French) or Schöffe (German) is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands. It has been replaced by the ' in the Netherlands (a municipal executive). In modern Belgium, the ''schepen'' or ''éch ...

(municipal officer) of Planning, Youth, Tourism and Environmental Development in the municipality of

Evergem Evergem () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of , Doornzele, Ertvelde, Evergem proper, , Kluizen, , Sleidinge and . In 2021, Evergem had a total population of 35,791. Demograp ...

since 2 January 2007. She has been the national vice-president of the

Christian Democratic and Flemish Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations (UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party wa ...

party since 2008. During the 2009 Flemish elections, she won the highest number of preference votes in the province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

. In July 2009, she took office as Minister for Environment, Nature and Culture in the Flemish Cabinet (Peeters II). Several artists found it unacceptable that she became Minister for Culture after she ignited controversy by saying she had little affinity with the cultural sector. After the Flemish elections in 2014, she became minister for Town and Country Planning, Environment, Nature and Agriculture. At a climate demonstration in Brussels on 27January 2019 attended by 75,000 people, Schauvliege specifically, and politicians in general, received a lot of criticism from young people. A few days later, in a speech to the General Farmers Syndicate on 2February 2019, she described this and other demonstrations as a "set up game" and claimed that the state security agency had informed her about the instigators of the protests. She later retracted her claim, but following internal party consultations resigned as minister on 5February 2019.

Honours

*2014: commander in the Order of Leopold.

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schauvliege, Joke 1970 births Living people Government ministers of Flanders Christian Democratic and Flemish politicians Ghent University alumni People from Evergem Politicians from Ghent 21st-century Belgian politicians 21st-century Belgian women politicians