Liesbeth Homans (born 17 February 1973) is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to

New Flemish Alliance The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish Movement, Flemish nationalist, Conservatism, conservative Political parties in Belgium, political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-na ...

. She was elected as 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 2009 and as a member of the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( ; ; ) is one of the two chambers of the Bicameralism, bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament, Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium), Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be ...

in 2010. She has served as

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 ...

and

Speaker of the Flemish Parliament The speaker of the Flemish Parliament () is the Speaker (politics), presiding member of the Flemish Parliament, which is the legislature of Flanders (Belgium). The speaker is elected at the beginning of each parliamentary year, on the fourth Monda ...

since 2019.

Biography

Homans was born in 1973 in

Wilrijk Wilrijk (; former, original spelling: ''Wilrijck'') is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Belgian province of Antwerp. Wilrijk had been a separate municipality before January 1, 1983; the enlarged municipality of Antwerp wa ...

. She graduated in 1998 as a licentiate (master's degree) in history 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 ...

and obtained a degree in international politics at the

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp () is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UAntwerp''. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 students, which makes it the third-largest university in Flanders. ...

. During her student days she was active in 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 ...

(KVHV) group where she met future N-VA leader

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 ...

. After being active in the Flemish nationalist People's Union party she was a founding member of the N-VA in 2001. She was chairwoman of the Openbaar centrum voor maatschappelijk welzijn (Public Centre for Social Welfare) in Antwerp from 2013 until July 2014, when she became a member of the

Bourgeois Government The Bourgeois Government (''Regering-Bourgeois'') was the Flemish Government formed following the Belgian regional elections, 2014, 2014 Flemish Parliament election. The cabinet consisted of a centre-right coalition of the nationalist New Flemish ...

as Flemish Minister for Local Government, Poverty Reduction, Housing, Civic Integration, Equal Opportunities, Cities and Social Economy. In July 2019 she became the first female

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 ...

in succession of

Geert Bourgeois Geert Albert Bourgeois (; born 6 July 1951) is a Belgium, Belgian politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which he founded in 2001, who is currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He previously served as the Mi ...

as he became

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 ...

. The Homans Government was however only an intermediate government in attendance of a new Flemish government and was replaced in October 2019 by the Jambon Government. On 2 October 2019 she became

Controversies

On 2 July 2019, when a picture was being taken following her oath of office, she said "we do not want this rag in the background", in reference to the Belgian flag.

References

External links

Living people 1973 births Members of the Senate (Belgium) Minister-presidents of Flanders Members of the Flemish Parliament New Flemish Alliance politicians Politicians from Antwerp KU Leuven alumni 21st-century Belgian women politicians Women governors and heads of sub-national entities Women members of the Senate (Belgium) {{Flanders-politician-stub