Events of the year

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Incumbents

*Monarch: Philippe *Prime Minister: Charles Michel (to 27 October);

Sophie Wilmès Sophie Wilmès (; born 15 January 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 2019 to 2020. She later served as minister of Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Reformist Movement, she is the fir ...

(from 27 October)

Events

* 1 January – Fifteen Flemish municipalities merge into seven, the first such merges for several decades * January – A ban on

Kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

and halal slaughter comes into effect in the

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

region of Belgium. The northern region of Belgium is the first to implement the ban. Similar restrictions will be in place in the southern

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

region from September. * 26 May –

European elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until ...

, regional elections and

federal election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

* 29 May – King Philippe held an official meeting with the leader of the nationalist

Vlaams Belang , ideology = , predecessor = Vlaams Blok , position = , europarl = Identity and Democracy , european = Identity and Democracy Party , youth_wing = Vlaams Belang Jongeren , colours = , ...

party,

Tom Van Grieken Tom Jozef Irène Van Grieken (born 7 October 1986) is a Belgian politician and author who has served as leader of Vlaams Belang since October 2014. Early life Van Grieken was born in Antwerp and later moved to Mortsel where he served as a muni ...

. According to Belgian media, 1936 was the last time a far-right leader had had an official meeting with the king. * 25 July – The hottest day on record in Belgium, with a temperature of 39.7 °C measured at the Royal Meteorological Institute in

Uccle Uccle () or Ukkel () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). It is generally considered an affluent area of the city a ...

and of 41.8 °C in Begijnendijk. * 27 October –

appointed head of caretaker government: Belgium's first female Prime Minister. * 27 November – Lode Van Hecke, Abbot of Orval, named

bishop of Ghent The Diocese of Ghent (Latin: ''Dioecesis Gandavensis'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Belgium. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropoli ...

in succession to

Lucas Van Looy Lucas Van Looy S.D.B. (born 28 September 1941) is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Bishop of Ghent from 2004 to 2019. He worked as a missionary in South Korea for more than a decade and held leadership positions with the Salesian ...

Culture

* 20 May –

Dardenne brothers Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne (; born 21 April 1951) and Luc Dardenne (born 10 March 1954), collectively referred to as the Dardenne brothers, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They write, produce, and direct their films together. The Dardennes b ...

film ''

Young Ahmed ''Young Ahmed'' (french: Le Jeune Ahmed) is a 2019 Belgian drama film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The film revolves around a young Muslim boy from Belgium who plots to murder his teacher in the name of his religion. It was selected ...

'' screened at

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The Palme d'Or went to the South Korean film ''Parasite'', directed by Bong Joon-ho; Bong became t ...

, winning them

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

award. * 21 May – Plans to build microbrewery inside

Grimbergen Abbey Grimbergen Abbey is a Premonstratensian monastery in Grimbergen, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, established in 1128 in the place of an earlier foundation of Augustinian Canons. The abbey itself was dissolved in 1796 in the aftermath of the French ...

publicised.

Deaths

;January * 1 January – Wilfried Verleyen, 87, monastic historian * 4 January – Wiet Van Broeckhoven, 69, radio presenter and writer. * 18 January – Etienne Vermeersch, 84, moral philosopher. ;February * 13 February – Willy Willy, rock musician with

The Scabs The Scabs are a Belgian (punk) rock group. They are best known for their hit singles "Matchbox Car" (1983) and "Hard Times" (1991), which have become classics on Belgian radio. History The band was founded in Diest in 1979. The original core memb ...

, dies at age 59. * 17 February – Claude Renard, 72, comics artist (''Ivan Casablanca'', ''1914-1918, Les Anges de Mons'') and teacher (founder of Atelier R). * 18 February – Bob Van Der Veken, TV actor ('' De Collega's''), dies at age 95. ;March * 14 March –

Godfried Danneels Godfried Maria Jules Danneels (4 June 1933 – 14 March 2019) was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and the chairman of the episcopal conference of his native countr ...

, 85, cardinal Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and the chairman of the episcopal conference. ;April * 19 April –

Patrick Sercu Patrick Sercu (27 June 1944 – 19 April 2019) was a Belgian cyclist who was active on the road and track between 1961 and 1983. On track, he won the gold medal in the 1 km time trial at the 1964 Summer Olympics, as well as three world titl ...

, 74, cyclist. ;May * 26 May – Alexis Dragonetti, 50, publisher. ;July * 17 July –

Robert Waseige Robert Waseige (26 August 1939 – 17 July 2019) was a Belgian football manager and player. Career While managing R.F.C. de Liège he helped them win the 1989–90 Belgian Cup. He became the coach of Belgium before Euro 2000 and led Belgium to ...

, 79, association football trainer. ;August * 4 August –

André Goosse André Goosse (16 April 1926, Liège – 4 August 2019) was a Belgian grammarian. The son-in-law of Maurice Grevisse, he took over editing and updating Grevisse's last book, ''Le Bon Usage''. In 1988, he married the Belgian writer France Bastia. ...

, 93, linguist. * 5 August – Bjorg Lambrecht, 22, cyclist. * 9 August – José Desmarets, 93, politician. ;September * 5 September – Charles Jarry, 66, comics artist (''Élodie d'Avray'', ''Costa''). ;October * 5 October ** Rik Pareit, 66, journalist and writer. **

Philippe Vandevelde Philippe Vandevelde, working under the pseudonym Tome (24 February 1957 – 5 October 2019), was a Belgian comics writer. He was known for collaborations with Janry on ''Spirou et Fantasio'' and ''Le Petit Spirou'', and with Luc Warnant an ...

, aka Philippe Tome, 62, comics writer (''

Le Petit Spirou ''Le Petit Spirou'' ( nl, De Kleine Robbe, link=no; ''"Young Spirou"'') is a popular Belgian comic strip created by Tome and Janry in 1987. The series developed from ''La jeunesse de Spirou'' (1987), a ''Spirou & Fantasio'' album in which Tome ...

'', ''

Soda Soda or SODA may refer to: Chemistry * Some chemical compounds containing sodium ** Sodium carbonate, washing soda or soda ash ** Sodium bicarbonate, baking soda ** Sodium hydroxide, caustic soda ** Sodium oxide, an alkali metal oxide * Sod ...

'', continued '' Spirou et Fantasio'') and artist (assistant of

Dupa Luc Dupanloup, more famous under his pen name Dupa, was a Belgian comics artist best known as the creator of Cubitus which later was turned into an animated series called ''Wowser''. He was born on 12 February 1945 in Montignies-sur-Sambre and di ...

Turk Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

and

Bob de Groot Bob de Groot is a Belgian comics artist and writer, born on 26 October 1941 in Brussels, to Dutch and French parents. Career While still a young art student de Groot got his first comics experience as an assistant to Maurice Tillieux on ''Féli ...

). * 22 October – Marieke Vervoort, 40, athlete. * 23 October –

Michel Nihoul Jean-Michel Nihoul better known as Michel Nihoul (23 April 1941, Verviers, Belgium - 23 October 2019, Zeebrugge, Belgium) was a Belgian businessman and convicted felon. During the 1990s and 2000s, he was the subject of a media and legal case in co ...

, Belgian criminal ( Dutroux affair), dies at age 78. ;November * 22 November –

Gaston Durnez Gaston Cyriel Durnez (9 September 1928 – 22 November 2019) was a Flemish columnist, journalist and writer. He worked for the newspaper De Standaard, and was one of the founders of the ''Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Beweging''. He was also the wri ...

, 91, journalist, poet, writer and comics writer (''De Geschiedenis van Sleenovia'', came up with the name of the comics character

Detective Van Zwam Detective Van Zwam is a Flemish comics character in the Belgian comics series ''The Adventures of Nero'' by Marc Sleen. He is a brilliant detective and able to find clues from even the tiniest of evidence. Van Zwam was originally the main protag ...

Marc Sleen Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comics like '' Piet Fluwijn ...

). ;December * 7 December – Dani Dacquin, 84, comics artist (''Adam en Eva'', ''De Lotgevallen van Lotje'', ''Yoeko''). * 14 December –

Panamarenko Henri Van Herwegen (5 February 1940 – 14 December 2019), known by the pseudonym Panamarenko, was a prominent assemblagist Belgian sculptor. Famous for his work with aeroplanes as theme; none of which are able nor constructed to actually leave ...

, 79, sculptor. * 22 December – Freek Neirynck, 70, theatre director, journalist, actor, writer and comics writer. * 30 December – André Smets, 76, politician.André Smets, ex-bourgmestre de Herve, est décédé durant la nuit
sudinfo.be 30 Dec 2019

References

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