Stefaan Van Hecke 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 languag ...

(

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; ...

)

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He is member of the

Belgian Federal Parliament The Federal Parliament is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives (Dutch: , french: Chambre des Représentants, german: Abgeordnetenkammer) and the Senate (Dutch: , french: Sénat, german: Senat). It sit ...

( Chamber of Representatives of Belgium) for the ecological party

Groen! Groen (English: Green; nl, Groen, ), founded as Agalev (see Name below), is a green Flemish political party in Belgium. Its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo; the two parties maintain close relations with each other. Party history Before 1 ...

. He was first elected in June 2007. He was re-elected in 2010, 2014, and 2019.

Biography

Van Hecke obtained a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

. To learn more about environmental law, he also got a degree in Environmental Science 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 ...

Political career

His political career started in 1990, when he joined "Agalev" (the then so-called green party in Flanders) in his home town Merelbeke. In 1992 he founded "Jong Agalev", the youngsters division of the green party, in Merelbeke. In 1996 he was elected into the provincial council. He kept that mandate until 2006. In the local and provincial elections in

Merelbeke Merelbeke () is a municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by ...

, Stefaan Van Hecke changed the provincial council for the city council. He led his party to victory, which led to him being chosen to lead Groen! in the provincial constituency of Eastern Flanders for the national parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Hecke, Stefaan Flemish politicians Living people Groen (political party) politicians 1973 births Ghent University alumni University of Antwerp alumni 21st-century Belgian politicians