Petrus Josephus Jacobus Gabriëls (22 September 1943 – 8 April 2024) was a Belgian politician and member of the

Flemish Liberals and Democrats The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (, , Open Vld) is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal v ...

(VLD) ( or VLD). He graduated in 1965 at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

as Master of Philosophy and Arts. He started his political career as a Provincial Councillor for

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

from 1974 to 1977. From 1977 till the last day of December 2012 he was the Mayor of Bree, and from 1977 he was Member of the Chamber of Representatives. From 1995 to 1999 he was a Member of the

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

. Gabriëls was the leader of the People's Union ( or VU) from 1986 to 1992 and was a founding member of the VLD. He also was Federal Minister of Agriculture and middle class (from 1999 to 2001) and

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

Minister of Economy, Foreign Trade and Housing (from 2001 to 2003). He again became a Member of the

in 2003 and he became a

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in 2004. Gabriëls died in Bree on 8 April 2024, at the age of 80.

References

1943 births 2024 deaths Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats politicians Ministers of agriculture of Belgium Ministers of state of Belgium KU Leuven alumni People's Union (Belgium) politicians People from Bree, Belgium {{Belgium-mayor-stub