Philippe Close (born 18 March 1971 in Namur) is a Belgian politician, member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

and the current mayor of the city of Brussels (since 2017).

Biography

Close has a law degree from Université libre de Bruxelles. In 2000, he became Elio Di Rupo's spokesman before joining the City of Brussels in 2001, as the chief of staff of Mayor Freddy Thielemans. In 2006, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to the Brussels City Council, after which he became

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 ...

. In 2009, he was

as member of the

Brussels Parliament The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (French: ''Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale'', Dutch: ''Parlement van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gew ...

. In 2013, he was considered as successor to Brussels Mayor Freddy Thielemans (PS), but the office went to Yvan Mayeur (PS). Following financial scandals in 2017, Mayeur resigned and was succeeded by Close.

References

Mayors of the City of Brussels Socialist Party (Belgium) politicians 1971 births Living people 21st-century Belgian politicians Université libre de Bruxelles alumni {{Brussels-politician-stub