Pascal Smet (born 30 July 1967) is a Belgian politician, member of

Vooruit Vooruit ( , ) is a historic complex in Ghent, Belgium. Vooruit was originally the festival and art centre of the Ghent-based labour movement, with a ballroom, cinema, theatre, etc. It is now mainly used for concerts and other cultural events ...

Personal life

He was born in 1967 in Beveren-Waas. He earned a degree in law 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. ...

. He is openly gay.

Career

He was a member of the town council of Beveren-Waas from 1989 to 1997 and a member of the province council of

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 ...

(1991–1994). He served as Belgium's Commissioner General for

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s and

stateless people In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any State (polity), state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many p ...

(2001–2003). In 2003 he became Secretary of State in the

government of the Brussels-Capital Region The government of the Brussels-Capital Region ( ; ) is the political administration of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) An election is held every five ye ...

with the competences of Mobility, the Civil Service, Fire Department, Urgent Medical Assistance and chairman of the Flemish Community Commission with the competences of Culture, Sport, the Civil Service and Media. After the regional elections of 2004 Pascal Smet became a minister. From 2004 to 2009 he was minister in the government of the Brussels-Capital Region. He dealt with mobility and public works in the Brussels capital region. He was also competent for culture, sport and youth for the Flemish community in Brussels.
From 2006 to 2018, he was a member of the city council of the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...

. Until 2012 he was also

Schepen A schepen (Dutch, ; . ') or échevin (French, , ) or Schöffe (German, ) is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands, where it has been replaced by the (a municipal executive). In modern Belgium, the ''schepen'' or ''échevin'' ...

for Public Works, in name only, as the position was incompatible with his government functions.
After the 2009 regional elections, the SP.a was ousted from the Brussels government and on 13 July 2009 Smet became then a member of the

Peeters II Government The Peeters II Government (''Regering-Peeters II'') was the Flemish Government formed following the 2009 Flemish Parliament election. The cabinet consisted of a coalition of the Christian democratic CD&V, the social democratic sp.a and the natio ...

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

Minister for Education, Youth, Equal Opportunities and Brussels Affairs. In the 2014 regional elections he ran for the Brussels Parliament, after which he became Minister of Mobility and Public Works in the Brussels-Capital government again.
After the 2019 regional elections he became Secretary of State for Urbanism and Heritage, European and International Relations, Foreign Trade and Fire fighting and Emergency medical Assistance. Pascal Smet has been lobbying for

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

. On 18 June 2023 he resigned after sparking a furore by hosting an Iranian delegation led by

Alireza Zakani Alireza Zakani (, born 3 March 1966) is an Iranian Iranian Principlists, conservative politician, current List of mayors of Tehran, mayor of Tehran since 2021 and ''Special Representative of the President of Iran in Affairs of Management of Soci ...

. replaced him.

References

External links

* * 1967 births Living people Vooruit (political party) politicians Belgian gay politicians University of Antwerp alumni 21st-century Belgian politicians {{Flanders-politician-stub

Personal life

Career

See also

References

External links