Egbert R. Lachaert (born 4 July 1977, in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

) is a Belgian lawyer, politician and was party chairman of the

Open VLD The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (, , Open Vld) is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal ...

Biography

Lachaert was born in Ghent and is the son of Flemish politician Patrick Lachaert. He studied law at

Ghent University Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...

where he was active in the ''Liberaal Vlaams Studentenverbond'' ( LVSV) and served as national president of the LVSV from 1999 to 2000. After graduating he worked for the Flemish think-tank Liberales before training as a lawyer. Lachaert became a member of the

Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...

in 2013 to replace Filip Anthuenis who had resigned his seat. In 2014 Belgian federal election, Lachaert became an MP in the Chamber of Representatives for the

East Flanders East Flanders ( ; ; ; ) is a Provinces of Belgium, province of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the North) the Netherlands, Dutch province of Zeeland and the Belgian provinces of Antwerp (province), Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Hainaut (provinc ...

district and subsequently resigned his seat in the Flemish Parliament. He was re-elected in 2019 and became the Open-VLD's faction leader in the Chamber. In 2020, he challenged Gwendolyn Rutten for leadership of the Open-VLD during a leadership contest and was subsequently elected as party chairman. As party leader, Lachaert has campaigned for more fiscal responsibility and to stop Belgium's phase out of nuclear power. At the end of June 2023, Lachaert announced his departure as party chairman. His departure was related to the consecutive poor results for Open Vld in the polls.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lachaert, Egbert 1977 births Living people Members of the 54th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 55th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the Flemish Parliament Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats politicians