Pascal Smet (born 30 July 1967) is a Belgian politician, member of

Vooruit Vooruit ( nl, Kunstencentrum Vooruit, ) is a historic complex in Ghent, Belgium. Vooruit was originally the festival and art center of the Ghent-based labor movement, with a ballroom, cinema, theater, etc. It is now mainly used for concerts an ...

Personal life

He was born in 1967 in Beveren-Waas. He earned a degree in Law at 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 ...

. He is openly gay.

Career

He was a member of the town council of Beveren-Waas from 1989 to 1997 and a member of the province council 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 ...

(1991–1994). He served as Belgium's Commissioner General for

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s and

stateless people In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are st ...

(2001–2003). In 2003 he became Secretary of State in the

government of the Brussels-Capital Region The government of the Brussels-Capital Region was the political administration of the Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) An election is held every five years. Th ...

with the competences of Mobility, the Civil Service, Fire Department, Urgent Medical Assistance and chairman of the Flemish Community Commission with the competences of Culture, Sport, the Civil Service and Media. After the regional elections of 2004 Pascal Smet became a minister. From 2004 to 2009 he was minister in the government of the Brussels-Capital Region. He dealt with mobility and public works in the Brussels capital region. He was also competent for culture, sport and youth for the Flemish community in Brussels.
From 2006 to 2018, he was a member of the city council of the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

. Until 2012 he was also

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 ...

for Public Works, in name only, as the position was incompatible with his government functions.
After the 2009 regional elections, the SP.a was ousted from the Brussels government and on 13 July 2009 Smet became then a member of the

Peeters II Government The Peeters II Government (''Regering-Peeters II'') was the Flemish Government formed following the 2009 Flemish Parliament election. The cabinet consisted of a coalition of the Christian democratic CD&V, the social democratic sp.a and the natio ...

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Minister for Education, Youth, Equal Opportunities and Brussels Affairs. In the 2014 regional elections he ran for the Brussels Parliament, after which he became Minister of Mobility and Public Works in the Brussels-Capital government again.
After the 2019 regional elections he became Secretary of State for Urbanism and Heritage, European and International Relations, Foreign Trade and Fire fighting and Emergency medical Assistance. Pascal Smet has been lobbying for

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

.https://www.tijd.be/politiek-economie/belgie/brussel/ubers-lobbymachine-bij-brusselse-politiek-blootgelegd/10401329

References

External links

* * 1967 births Living people Socialistische Partij Anders politicians Belgian LGBT politicians University of Antwerp alumni Gay politicians 21st-century Belgian politicians {{Flanders-politician-stub

Personal life

Career

See also

References

External links