Joachim Coens (born 6 September 1966) 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 ...

politician and businessman who has served as the leader of

Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism (ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party wa ...

, a Christian democratic political party, since December 2019. Before politics, he had been

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the holding company for the Port de Bruges-Zeebruges.

Biography

Coens was born in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

on 6 September 1966, the son of politician Daniël Coens, who served as a cabinet minister both in Flanders and nationally. Coens studied at the Catholic University of Leuven and

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and became a civil engineer. From 1990 to 1995, he was an engineer at

BESIX BESIX Group is a construction group based in Brussels, one of the world's leading international contractors according to the ENR ranking. Active since 1909, BESIX operates in Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, North America and Asia. Its a ...

and worked on projects in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In 1995, Coens ran in the regional elections for the Flemish Parliament in the constituency of Bruges. He was elected, and was re-elected, in the

1999 Belgian regional elections Regional elections were held in Belgium, to choose representatives in the regional councils of Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking Community on 13 June 1999. The regional elections were held on the same day as the European election ...

. He resigned his post in March 2001 to become president and director general of the , the company that oversees the Port de Bruges-Zeebruges. He was replaced in the Flemish Parliament by Boudewijn Laloo. From 1995 to 2014, Coens also served as the '' échevin'' of the town of Damme, notably in charge of culture, heritage, libraries, urban development, the local economy, budget, finance and sport portfolios. After the accidental death of mayor Dirk Bisschop in May 2014, Coens became interim mayor while also serving as échevin. On 3 June 2014 he was officially named mayor by a majority of the council. In the 2018 Belgian local elections, he ran under the CD&V list and received an absolute majority. On 20 October 2019 he announced his candidacy for leadership of CD&V. He faced six other candidates in the first round of leadership elections on 18 November 2019, and ended up with 26% of the vote. He qualified for the second round of elections, where he faced

Sammy Mahdi Sammy Mahdi (born 21 September 1988) is a Belgian Christian-Democrat politician, a member of CD&V, who in March 2020 became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. On 1 October 2020, Mahdi became Secretary of State for Asylum and Mi ...

, leader of the youth wing of the party . He was elected leader on 6 December 2019 with 53.12% of the vote. Upon his election, he resigned his post at the Port of Zeebruges. After his election, he was named coalition informateur on 10 December 2019 by King Philippe, working in collaboration with the leader of

Mouvement réformateur The Reformist Movement (french: Mouvement Réformateur, MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium. MR is traditionally a conservative-liberal party, but it also contains social-liberal factions. The party is in coalition as ...

Georges-Louis Bouchez Georges-Louis Bouchez (GLB), (born March 23, 1986) is a Belgians, Belgian politician and lawyer. Since 2019 he has served as a Senate (Belgium), Senator and leader of Mouvement Réformateur, Mouvement réformateur. Early life Bouchez was born i ...

in an attempt to form a Federal government after the

2019 Belgian federal election Federal elections were held in Belgium on 26 May 2019, alongside the country's European and regional elections. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from eleven multi-member constituencies. The far-right Vlaams Bela ...

. The two replace

Paul Magnette Paul Magnette (born 28 June 1971) is a Belgian politician for the Socialist Party, the current mayor of Charleroi and former political science professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He was the 13th Minister-President of Wallonia ...

of the Parti socialiste. Their term as informateur ended on 31 January 2020 without a coalition being formed.

Personal life

Coens is married to Kristin Dewever, a lawyer..

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coens, Joachim 1966 births Living people Delft University of Technology alumni KU Leuven alumni 20th-century Belgian engineers Belgian civil engineers Members of the Flemish Parliament Christian Democratic and Flemish politicians