Patrick Yvonne Hugo Dewael (; born 13 October 1955) is a liberal Belgian politician. A member of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (''Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten'', VLD), he served as Minister-President of Flanders from 1999 to 2003. He is the nephew of the late Herman Vanderpoorten and the cousin of Marleen Vanderpoorten, who served as Minister of Education in the

Flemish Government The Flemish Government ( ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President of Flanders, Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Par ...

led by Dewael. He obtained a degree in law and notariat from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel 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 ...

. Dewael served as the President of the Chamber of Representatives from 2019 to 2020 and previously from 2008 to 2010.

Political career

He was first elected to the Belgian Parliament in 1985. From 1985 to 1992 Dewael served for the PVV as Flemish minister of Culture in the governments led by Gaston Geens (II, III and IV). After the defeat of the liberals at the 1992 elections, Dewael served as an opposition MP until the liberals regained power in 1999. He was Minister-President of the regional government of Flanders from 1999 to 2003. After the Federal elections of 2003, Dewael resigned as minister-president in order to serve as deputy prime minister and minister of the interior in the Belgian Federal government led by Guy Verhofstadt. When Kurdish militant Fehriye Erdal was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment by a

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

court on 28 February 2006, it turned out that she had shaken off the Belgian secret service, which had had the responsibility of following her since 23 February 2006 (Erdal had been under house arrest since 2000). Both the Minister of Justice, Laurette Onkelinx, and the Minister of the Interior, Patrick Dewael came under fire for this incident. He was deputy prime minister and minister for interior in the Leterme I Government, which took office on 20 March 2008. On 31 December 2008, he became president of the Chamber of Representatives. He was replaced as

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

by Guido De Padt.

Private life

Patrick Dewael lives in Tongeren, a town of which he is also the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. Patrick Dewael was married to Marleen Van Doren, with whom he has three children. On 24 August 2005 Dewael released a press communiqué in which he announced that he was leaving his wife for VRT journalist . On 19 July 2019 he married Op de Beeck.

Honours

* 2014 : Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Leopold II. * 2002 : Knight Grand Cross

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

, decree of 14 October 2002

Notes

References

External links