André Antoine (; born 3 February 1960) is a Belgian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, minister and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. He has been a member of the

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

cdH (''Humanist Democratic Centre party'') since 1980. He was elected to the presidency of the Wallon parliament on 22 July 2014.

Life

Early years

André Antoine was born in Leuven/Louvain. He comes from a farming family. He achieved his Licentiate in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

University of Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

(UCLouvain) in

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (; French for "New Leuven"; ) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house th ...

in 1983. His degree in Higher

European Studies European studies is a field of study offered by many academic colleges and universities that focuses on the History of Western civilization and the evolution of Western culture, as well as on current developments in European integration. Some ...

followed a year later. His political career began in 1980 when he joined the Christian Socialist Party (PSC, as the cdH was then called), becoming a special advisor to the party presidency. In 1983 he started to work as a cabinet assistant for the Belgian Minister for Scientific Policy and Panning,

Philippe Maystadt Philippe M.P.J. Maystadt (14 March 1948 – 7 December 2017) was a Belgium, Belgian politician who served as Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Finance (Belgium), Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister. He was President of the Eur ...

, moving on to work as an "attaché" to the party president in 1984/85.

Local government

Antoine was a member of the municipal council in Ramillies between 1988 and 1994. Since 1994 he has been a councillor in nearby

Perwez Perwez (; ; , ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. Geography and demographics On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 7,487 inhabitants. The total area is 50.81 km2, giving a population densit ...

where he has also served as the mayor since 2000. From 1991 till 1994 he served as a county councillor for Brabant (later

Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant ( ; ; ) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut. Walloon Br ...

), also serving as cabinet chief to .

Regional government

In October 1985 he was selected as a PSC representative (''"volksvertegenwoordiger"'') for the Nivelles Arrondissement, a mandate he retained till 1991. In 1995 he became a member of the newly renamed and reconfigured

Parliament of Wallonia The Parliament of Wallonia (, ), or the Walloon Parliament (, ) in the decrees, is the legislative body of Wallonia, one of the three self-governing regions of Belgium (the other two being Flanders and the Brussels-Capital Region). The parliamen ...

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

, and the

Parliament of the French Community The Parliament of the French Community ( ; PCF) is the legislative assembly of the French Community of Belgium, based in the Royal Quarter of Brussels. It consists of all 75 members of the Walloon Parliament except German-speaking members (curren ...

, which for most purposes is the name used for the same parliament when convening in Brussels as part of the national legislative structure. Re-elected to the Wallon parliament in 1999, he became the leader of the PSC group in it. In 2003

Joëlle Milquet Joëlle F.G.M. Milquet ( ; born 17 February 1961) is a Belgian politician from the Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH). Education She studied classics at the in Charleroi, before going on to graduate in law from the Université Catholique de Louv ...

appointed Antoine a vice-president of the recently renamed cdH (party), hitherto the PSC. The next year, 2004, he attained ministerial office, becoming the regional Minister for Housing, Transport and Regeneration. His wide palette of responsibilities included general and school transport, energy policy, housing and land use, zoning, airports and railway investment. In 2009 he became regional Minister for the Budget, Finance, Employment, Training and Sport. Despite the change of post, he retained responsibility for airports policy in Wallonia, which under an EU directive from 2002 gives him the power to place a ban on night takes-offs and landings. However, it is not a power he exercised: there are very few nighttime take-offs and landings in Wallonia. Re-elected to the assembly again in 2014, he became president of the Wallon parliament on 22 July 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antoine, Andre (politician) 1960 births Living people Humanist Democratic Centre politicians Mayors of places in Belgium Transport ministers of Wallonia Finance ministers of Wallonia Housing ministers of Wallonia Members of the Parliament of Wallonia Politicians from Leuven People from Walloon Brabant People from Ramillies, Belgium Université catholique de Louvain alumni Belgian senators of the 57th legislature