Lodewijk "Lode" De Witte (; born 12 December 1954 in

Zwevegem Zwevegem () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Heestert, Moen, Otegem, Sint-Denijs and Zwevegem. On January 1, 2019, Zwevegem had a total population of 24,648. The total ar ...

) is the former

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the Belgian province of

Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( nl, Vlaams-Brabant ; french: Brabant flamand ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Haina ...

. After his studies at the law school of the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

, he remained active as a researcher and became specialised in issues concerning

labour law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

(namely the formal position of foreign employees), which was assigned to him by the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

. Since 1981, he was involved with the Emile Vandervelde-Institute, where he became a public servant in 1988. Initially, as an attaché for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after subsequently as advisor and adjunct-head of cabinet. In 1994 he was appointed as the commissionary of government and was given the task to prepare the division of the unitary Belgian province of

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

. He became the first governor of the newly made

, which exists alongside the province of

Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant (french: Brabant wallon ; nl, Waals-Brabant ; wa, Roman Payis) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and ...

since 1 January 1995. He retired on the 28 of August 2020.

Jan Spooren Jan Spooren (born 12 January 1969) is a Belgian politician active for the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and the current governor of Flemish Brabant. Spooren obtained a law degree from KU Leuven and became active in the former Volksunie party for whi ...

is his successor as governor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witte, Lodewijk De 1954 births Living people People from Zwevegem Governors of Flemish Brabant KU Leuven alumni