Kris Peeters (; born 18 May 1962) is a Belgian politician of the

Christian Democratic and Flemish Christian Democratic and Flemish (, ; CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party w ...

party who served as vice-president of the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

(EIB) from 2021 to 2024. Earlier in his career, he was

Minister-President of Flanders The minister-president of Flanders () is the Head of government, head of the Flemish Government, which is the executive branch of the Flemish Region and Flemish Community.See the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. The incumbent o ...

(2007–2014), deputy prime minister and minister of economy and employment in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...

(2014–2019), and a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(2019–2021).

Early life and education

After attending secondary school in Boom, Peeters studied law in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) 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 Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and obtained a law degree in 1986. In addition, he obtained a degree in taxation and accounting from

Vlerick Business School Vlerick Business School ("Vlerick") is a Belgian business school with campuses in Ghent, Leuven, and Brussels. It is a result of a merger of MBA programmes of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and of the ''Instituut Professor Vlerick voor Mana ...

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 ...

Early career

Peeters served from 1991 to 1994 as Director of the NCMV research department. In 1994, he became Secretary-General of NCMV and when NCMV was reformed into the SME interest group UNIZO in 1999, he became its first managing director.

Political career

Career in national politics

In 2004, although not having been a candidate for public office at the 2004 regional elections, Peeters was asked to become a member 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 ...

. He resigned his position with UNIZO and became Flemish Minister for Public Works, Energy, the Environment and Nature. During the 2006 municipal elections, Peeters ran for public office the first time in his career and was elected a member of the city council of his home town

Puurs Puurs () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. It is located in the Flanders, Flemish Region. The municipality comprised the towns of Breendonk, Liezele, , Ruis ...

. In the

2007 Belgian federal election Federal elections were held in Belgium on 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, Chamber of Representatives and Belgian Senate, Senate. Eligible voters were Belgium, Belg ...

s, Peeters was elected to the

Belgian Chamber of Representatives The Chamber of Representatives (; ; ) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the "lower house" of the Federal Parliament. Members and elections Article 62 o ...

but chose not to take his seat, instead he succeeded

Yves Leterme Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (; born 6 October 1960) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008, and later from November 2009 ...

, as Leterme headed the CD&V coalition talks for a new Belgian government. Peeters also gave up his former competences to Hilde Crevits and took on the responsibilities for Institutional Affairs, Agriculture and Sea Fisheries, formerly belonging to Leterme, while keeping his own competence regarding Ports. He has been serving a second term as head of the Flemish government since the regional elections of 7 June 2009, with the additional competences of Institutional Affairs, Economy, Agriculture and Sea Fisheries. During the

2014 Belgian government formation Following the simultaneous Belgian federal election, 2014, federal elections and Belgian regional elections, 2014, regional elections of 25 May 2014, negotiations started to Government formation, form a new Cabinet of Belgium, Federal Government a ...

Peeters was co-

formateur A formateur (French for "someone who forms, who constitutes") is a politician who is appointed to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur i ...

along with

(MR). Peeters was poised to become the new prime minister of Belgium. However, upon nominating Marianne Thyssen (also CD&V) as European Commissioner, his party already held a major political office. Consequently,

became prime minister, and Kris Peeters became deputy prime minister and Minister of Employment, Economy and Consumer Affairs in the

Michel Government The Michel Governments were various Belgian federal governments led by Prime Minister Charles Michel: * Michel I Government (2014–2018) * Michel II Government The Michel II Government was the Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Mini ...

. Besides

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 ...

Maggie De Block Maggie Celine Louise De Block (; born 28 April 1962) is a Belgian politician of the Open VLD who has been chairing her party's group in the Chamber of Representatives since 2020. De Block served as Minister of Social Affairs and Health in th ...

and Theo Francken, Peeters is one of the most popular political figures in Flanders in recent years.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–2021

Peeters was a

from

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

until 2021. During that time, he served on the

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * Coordination at Community level of na ...

and the

Subcommittee on Security and Defence The Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) is a subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. It is responsible for European security and defence policy, including institutions, capabilities and operations, as we ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, he chaired the Parliament's delegation for relations with the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate ...

Later career

In late 2020, Peeters was nominated by the government of

Alexander De Croo Alexander De Croo (; born 3 November 1975) is a Belgian politician and businessman who served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2020 to 2025. Previously from 2012 to 2020, De Croo served as deputy prime minister in the governments of Elio Di Rup ...

to become one of the vice-presidents of the

(EIB), representing the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

countries. In this capacity, he oversaw the Bank's activities on files such as mobility, security and defence, as well as operations in the

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

countries.Kris Peeters appointed as new Vice-President of the European Investment Bank

(EIB), press release of January 12, 2021.

References

External links

* *
Kris Peeters on the website of CD&V
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peeters, Kris 1962 births Christian Democratic and Flemish politicians Deputy prime ministers of Belgium Flemish politicians Living people Minister-presidents of Flanders Vlerick Business School alumni MEPs for Belgium 2019–2024