Joëlle F.G.M. Milquet ( ; born 17 February 1961) is a Belgian politician from the

Humanist Democratic Centre Humanist Democratic Centre (, CDH) was a Christian democratic and centrist French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Political parties in Belgium, political party in Belgium. The party originated in the split in 1972 of the unitary Christian So ...

(CDH).

Education

She studied classics at the in

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, before going on to graduate in law from the

Université Catholique de 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 ...

in 1984. In 1985, she took a post-graduate diploma in European law at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA).

Career

She started her career at the Bar in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. From 1995 to 1999 she was a delegate to the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( ; ; ) is one of the two chambers of the Bicameralism, bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament, Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium), Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be ...

. She has been the president of the CDH party since, and played a prominent role in the 2007-2008 formation negotiations for the Leterme I Government. During the government formation negotiations she was given the nickname ''"Madame Non"'' (Mrs No) by the for her fierce resistance to constitutional reform that would give more

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...

to the different

communities of Belgium Belgium is a federation, federal state comprising three communities and three regions that are based on four language areas. For each of these subdivision types, the subdivisions together make up the entire country; in other words, the types ove ...

. She was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities in the Leterme I Government, which took office on 20 March 2008. When the Leterme I government failed, Joëlle Milquet retained her seat on the

Van Rompuy I Government The Van Rompuy Government was the federal government of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until 15 November 2009. Herman Van Rompuy was nominated as the first President of the European Council and resigned shortly after as Premier. It took office when ...

, then on the

Leterme II Government The Leterme II Government was the Belgian federal government, federal government of Belgium from 25 November 2009 to 26 April 2010, and the caretaker government until 6 December 2011. It took office when the Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leter ...

. She was the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior and for Equalities in the Di Rupo Government (2011-2014). In June 2014 she became minister of Lower education, Culture in the Government of the French Community. Ms. Milquet was Vice Minister-President and Minister for Education and Culture in the Government of the French Community until 2016. She currently serves as Chair of the Security Committee of Brussels' Regional Parliament. In October 2017, Ms Joëlle Milquet was appointed Special Adviser to President Jean-Claude Juncker for the compensation of victims of crime. As opinion maker and several times former minister she is often interviewed by Belgian newspapers and Television such a
RTBFLe Soir
an
La Libre BelgiqueLN24
Paris Match etc.. In January 2021, she was appointed President of the European Centre for Electoral Support's Strategic and Advisory Committee which is one of the most important organisations implementing electoral and democracy assistance projects worldwide funded by the European Union and its Member States. In January 2025 she was appointed as Chair of the Board of Directors o
RTBF (Radio-télévision belge de la communauté française)
Belgium's national public broadcasting organization.

References

External links

*
Joëlle Milquet
on the

(CDH) website 1961 births 20th-century Belgian politicians 20th-century Belgian women politicians 21st-century Belgian politicians 21st-century Belgian women politicians Deputy prime ministers of Belgium Female interior ministers Government ministers of Belgium Humanist Democratic Centre politicians Ministers of the interior of Belgium Living people Members of the Senate (Belgium) Politicians from Charleroi Université catholique de Louvain alumni Women government ministers of Belgium {{Belgium-politician-stub