Éliane Tillieux (; born 1966) is a Belgian

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

politician from

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 ...

(

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

) and the first woman to serve as president of the

Belgian Chamber of Representatives The Chamber of Representatives (; ; ) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the "lower house" of the Federal Parliament. Members and elections Article 62 o ...

Early life and education

Tillieux was born in Namur on 25 April 1966 and in 1989 graduated from the Institut Supérieur de Traducteurs et Interprètes de Bruxelles (now a department of

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

). She also obtained an accountancy certificate from the

Institut d'Enseignement Commercial de Namur An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

(1992) and graduated

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

from the

Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (abbreviated as SBS-EM and also known as simply Solvay) is a school of economics and management, and a Faculty of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking private rese ...

(1993). She worked as a linguist in the financial sector and as a manager in the Société Wallonne de Distribution d'Eau, where she advanced to be head of the commercial division's customer service department before resigning in 2004 to enter politics full-time.

Political career

From 2000 to 2004 Tillieux was a provincial councillor for the

Province of Namur Namur (; ; ) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French department of Ardennes. Its ...

. She sat in the regional

Walloon Parliament 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 ...

from 2004 to 2009, and served in the

Walloon Government The Government of Wallonia (, ) or Walloon Government (, ) is the executive branch of Wallonia and one of the six governments in Belgium. It is located in Namur, where the Parliament of Wallonia is also seated Compositions Current compositi ...

headed by

Rudy Demotte Rudy W.G. Demotte (born 3 June 1963 in Ronse) is a Belgian socialist politician who served as the 12th Minister-President of Wallonia (2007–2014), replacing Elio Di Rupo, one month after a historical defeat of the socialists in the federal ...

from 2009 to 2014 as Minister for Social Action, Health and Equal Opportunities. She was the only woman of ministerial rank in Demotte's government. She became minister of Employment and Training in the Walloon Government headed by

Paul Magnette Paul Magnette (; born 28 June 1971) is a Belgian politician. Since 2019, he is the leader of the Socialist Party, a social democratic French-speaking party in Belgium. He was mayor of Charleroi from December 2012 to December 2024. Magnette is a ...

from 2014 to 2017, again as the only female minister. In 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-wing Vlaams ...

(26 May) Tillieux was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. The following 30 September 2020 she became the Socialist Party's candidate as president of the chamber, being sworn in on 13 October 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tillieux, Eliane 1966 births Living people People from Namur (city) 21st-century Belgian politicians Socialist Party (Belgium) politicians Presidents of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Women legislative speakers