Joséphine Rebecca Marie Julienne Bertha "Fientje" Moerman (born 19 October 1958) is a Belgian liberal politician and currently a judge on the Constitutional Court of Belgium.

Education

In 1981, Fientje Moerman obtained a master's degree in law. She studied law at the

University of Ghent 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 ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

) and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Professional career

She started her career as a lawyer in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

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 ...

(1982–1984). Afterwards she became editor of economy and finances for the journal

De Standaard (, ) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish Party, and in opposition to the Sociali ...

(1984–1985). In the mid-1980s she was the spokeswoman of the European liberals in the European parliament and then a consultant of the French former-president

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, ; ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as simply Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Ministry of the Economy ...

(1985–1991). Afterwards she was a senior consultant in the European liberal fraction, was specialized in institutional reforms and relations with

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the Gulf States (1991–1995). During 1994–1995, she was a member of the

Tindemans group The Tindemans Group was an EU group of reflection in 1994-1995, set up with the aim of bringing the general public into the debate about the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference with a view to enlargement with new member states from Central and Eas ...

. Between 1988 and 1995, she also was a municipal councillor and from 1995 up to 1999

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of Ghent for education. In 1999, she was elected to the Chamber of Representatives. In 2003, she joined the government of Verhofstadt II as Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy, but in July 2004, she left the Federal Government to become the Flemish Minister of Economy, Enterprises, Innovation, Science and Foreign Trade. She was also Deputy Minister-President of 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 ...

Hiring scandal and resignation

In August 2007, Moerman became embroiled in a scandal around the hiring of experts for her cabinet. Her former chief of staff Aernoudt accused her of tampering with the rules for public procurement. After a negative report around the case by the Flemish ombudsman, on 10 October 2007, Fientje Moerman resigned due to the fallout of the hiring scandal; she was replaced as vice-minister-president by Dirk Van Mechelen and as minister by . After her resignation as minister she served as member of the Flemish Parliament (2008–2014). After the regional elections of 2014 Moerman returned to the European civil service (2014–2018).

Judicial career

In 2018, Fientje Moerman was appointed by royal decree on18 March 2018 as a judge on the Constitutional Court of Belgium.

Personal life

She identifies herself as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. Koen Dillen and Frank Vanhecke, "Al bij al heb ik gelukkig geleefd. Het bewogen leven van Marie-Rose Morel", Standaard Uitgeverij, 2011, p. 146.

Sources

Minister Fientje Moerman

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moerman, Fientje 1958 births Constitutional Court of Belgium judges Flemish politicians Ghent University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Living people Belgian atheists 21st-century Belgian politicians 21st-century Belgian women politicians Flemish lawyers