Barbara Pas (born 1 March 1981) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Chamber of Representatives for

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

. She is also the floor leader of the party in the Chamber and serves as the spokeswoman for the VB on a federal level. Pas previously served as national chairwoman of the ''

Vlaams Belang Jongeren ''Vlaams Belang Jongeren'' (VBJ; Dutch for "Flemish Interest Youth") is the youth wing of the Vlaams Belang party. Until the conviction of the Vlaams Blok in 2004, the organisation was called Vlaams Blok Jongeren. When the party changed its name, ...

.''

Early life

Pas was born in

Temse Temse (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in East Flanders, Belgium. The name Temse is derived from the Gallo-Roman/Gaul Tamisiacum or Tamasiacum. This is also reflected in the French name for the town, Tamise. The main sights in ...

, Belgium, in 1981. She studied a degree in engineering at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

during which she was a member of the Flemish nationalist

Nationalistische Studentenvereniging The Nationalistische Studentenvereniging (NSV!) (Dutch language, Dutch; "Nationalist Student Association") is a far-right Flemish Movement, Flemish nationalist student political group in Belgium, with chapters in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Leuven, W ...

and the

Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (KVHV) or the Catholic Flemish Students' Association is a political student society which concerns Flemish nationalism and conservatism. It accepts male and female members and has chapters in Ghent, Leuven, Ant ...

groups.

Political career

Pas served as the president of the

, the youth wing of the Vlaams Belang from October 2009 to March 2012. She was elected to the Chamber of Representatives in 2007. Since December 2012, she has been national vice-president of Vlaams Belang. In April 2013, she succeeded Gerolf Annemans the VB's group leader in the Chamber of Representatives for the Flemish Interest. She continued this until May 2014, when her party did not have enough MPs to have another fraction. She was reappointed to the role again in 2019, after Vlaams Belang did get enough members for a parliamentary faction again. In 2020, Pas expressed criticism of moves by the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

protests in Belgium to remove statues of

Leopold II, King of the Belgians Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leo ...

in public spaces. She argued that while she is a republican and that Leopold had oppressed the Flemish community, she also believed that statues of historical figure should remain, and stated that "It bothers me that an American incident is being imported here." Pas has also negotiated with

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 ...

to end the '' cordon sanitaire'' applied to the VB and believes it will be lifted by 2024 as both the VB and the

N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist, conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). The N-VA is a regionalist an ...

will gain enough votes to work together. In 2021, Belgian journalist Hind Fraihi published in her book ''Behind the Shield of the Extreme Right'' that Pas was a member of the closed

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

group ''She Wolves'' which allegedly shared fascist content and called for violence. In response, both Pas and Vlaams Belang distanced themselves from the group.https://www.hln.be/binnenland/besloten-extreemrechtse-groepen-op-facebook-hebben-link-met-mandatarissen-vlaams-belang~a4f8e5c8/ She declared to have been added indirectly. In 2022, she co-authored the book ''Bottomless'' along with economist

Lode Vereeck Lode Vereeck (born 23 January 1965) is a Belgian economist, professor and politician of the Vlaams Belang party, and formerly of the Open VLD and Lijst Dedecker. Vereeck worked as a professor of macroeconomics in Belgium, the Netherlands and Ar ...

which offered a critique of Belgium's financial systems. During the local elections of October 2024 she doubled the seats in her hometown Dendermonde equalling the Mayor's results, and obtained 4790 preferential votes.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pas, Barbara 1981 births 21st-century Belgian women politicians Members of the 52nd Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 53rd Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 54th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 55th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 56th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Flemish politicians Living people People from Temse Vlaams Belang politicians Women members of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)