Wilfried Vandaele (born 5 June 1959 in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

) 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 language ...

politician and is affiliated to the

N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( nl, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was founded in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). T ...

. He has been a member of the

Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and as a cultural communi ...

since 2009 and has served as its speaker between 13 July and 2 October 2019. He is also the current mayor of his home town De Haan.

Career

Vandaele was elected as a member of the

in 2009. In January 2013 he succeeded party leader

Bart De Wever Bart Albert Liliane De Wever ( born 21 December 1970) is a Belgian politician. Since 2004 De Wever has been the leader of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a political party advocating for the independence of Flanders. He is also a member of the ...

as a

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 Flemish community. As a senator he was a member of the committees for home affairs and administrative affairs. Since 2015 he is an alternate member of the European Alliance Group at the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

. From 13 July 2019 he was

Speaker of the Flemish Parliament The Speaker of the Flemish Parliament ( nl, Voorzitter van het Vlaams Parlement) is the presiding member of the Flemish Parliament, which is the legislature of Flanders (Belgium). The speaker is elected at the beginning of each parliamentary year ...

until his replacement by

Liesbeth Homans Liesbeth Homans (born 17 February 1973 in Antwerp) is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA, New Flemish Alliance). She was elected as a member of the Flemish Parliament in 2009 and as a member of the Belgian Sena ...

on 2 October 2019. He subsequently became the leader of the N-VA parliamentary group, succeeding Matthias Diependaele who was appointed as a minister in the new

Jambon government The Jambon Government (''Regering-Jambon'') is the Flemish Government formed and sworn in on 2 October 2019, following the 2019 Belgian regional elections and replacing the interim Homans Government. On 30 September 2019, just over four months ...

. Vandaele has been a member of the city council of De Haan since 1 January 1989. He served as alderman (January 1, 2007 – December 31, 2012) and has been the mayor of the town since 1 January 2019. Upon becoming mayor, he resigned from his position as senator, as is legally required.

Notes

Living people Members of the Flemish Parliament New Flemish Alliance politicians 1959 births Politicians from Bruges 21st-century Belgian politicians {{Belgium-mayor-stub