Claude Eerdekens (born May 13, 1948, in

Ougrée Ougrée (; ) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Seraing, located in the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. It was a separate municipality before the merging of municipalities in 1977. Olympic swimmers Béatric ...

), is a Belgian politician,

burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, ) is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or executive of a city or town. The name in English was derived from the Dutch . In so ...

Andenne Andenne (; ) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Andenne had a total population of 25,240. The total area is 86.17 km² which giv ...

from 1979 to 2024, and member of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

Biography

He was candidate in the regional elections of June 13, 2004, and elected to the Walloon Parliament. On July 19, 2004, he became Minister of the

French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...

responsible for the Civil Service and Sports. In December 2004, a controversy broke out over a case of doping in which the Russian tennis player

Svetlana Kuznetsova Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Kuznetsova won 18 singl ...

, who tested positive for

ephedrine Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant and sympathomimetic agent that is often used to prevent hypotension, low blood pressure during anesthesia. It has also been used for asthma, narcolepsy, and obesity but is not the preferred ...

, was allegedly involved. during an exhibition tournament 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 ...

, after Minister Eerdekens revealed the results of this control a little quickly to the press. Re-elected to the House of Representatives following the elections of June 10, 2007, he left the government of the French Community. His skills were taken over by

Michel Daerden Michel Daerden (16 November 1949 – 5 August 2012) was a francophone Belgian politician, a member of the '' Parti Socialiste'', and a finance auditor. Daerden was born in Baudour, Belgium. With a reputation as a 'bon vivant', his undenied p ...

and he was digitally replaced by

Marc Tarabella Marc Tarabella (born 11 March 1963) is a Belgian politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament for the French Community of Belgium with the Parti Socialiste, part of the Socialist Group. In February 2023 he was charged ...

. On July 16, 2007, he returned to the

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 ...

as deputy to Minister Éliane Tillieux. On January 14, 2011, Claude Eerdekens insulted Flander

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

Bart de wever Bart Albert Liliane De Wever (; born 21 December 1970) is a Belgian author, historian and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Belgium since February 2025. From 2004 to 2025, De Wever had been the leader of the New Flemish Allianc ...

during an interview with the channel namuroise in Bouké. In March 2011, he mistreated the opposition of the Andenne Municipal Council. He was called to order by the minister responsible for monitoring local authorities. On the political level, Claude Eerdekens proposed the development of various laws aimed at combating extremism; the law fighting against

negationism Historical negationism, also called historical denialism, is falsification or distortion of the historical record. This is not the same as ''historical revisionism'', a broader term that extends to newly evidenced, fairly reasoned academic reint ...

, revisionism, the denial of the crimes committed by

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

as well as the law on the non-financing of non-democratic parties. In the

municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

of 2012, he was re-elected mayor of

. Claude Eerdekens is an Officer of the

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

. He is in favor of the rattachism of Wallonia to France.

References

External links

Bio on Walloon dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eerdekens, Claude 1948 births Living people Members of the 47th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 48th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 49th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 50th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 51st Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 52nd Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the Parliament of Wallonia Members of the Parliament of the French Community Socialist Party (Belgium) politicians Walloon movement activists