Pierre Antoine Marie Chevalier (born 8 October 1952) is a Belgian politician and member of the Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (VLD). He is a former Secretary of State in the Belgian Federal Government and was elected to the Belgian Senate in 2003 by the Dutch electoral college. He studied Laws and Criminology at the University of Ghent before he became a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. He became involved in politics early on, first as a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

, as a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

later on, and since 1992 as a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

. In October 2000, he was forced to resign as Secretary of State by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium ...

, who is also a member of the VLD, after it became public that he had been named in a criminal investigation in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Political career

*1985–2003: Member of the Chamber of Representatives *1988–1989: Secretary of State for Education *1989–1990: Secretary of State for Science Policy *1990–1992: Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

and the Assembly of the Western European Union *1999–2000: Secretary of State for Foreign Trade *Since 2003: Directly elected

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for the Dutch electoral college *Pierre Chevalier is a special envoy for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 1952 births Living people Politicians from Bruges Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten politicians Members of the Belgian Federal Parliament Ghent University alumni {{Belgium-politician-stub