Philippe De Backer (born 4 December 1978) is an

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 ...

politician and was 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 ...

(MEP) from September 2011 until April 2016, when he became Secretary of State in the Michel Government.

Biography

Philippe De Backer was born in

Ekeren Ekeren () is a northern district of the municipality of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The suburb celebrated its 850th birthday in 2005; the name of the town was first mentioned in 1155, as "Hecerna". The name possibly originates from ...

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 grew up in Kapellen. He studied

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

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 earned a doctorate in 2009. During his student days, De Backer was active in the Liberal Flemish Students Association (LVSV) 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 ...

and he was a core member of the liberal think tank Liberales. He was also elected for two years as a student representative in the Board of Directors of Ghent University. Afterwards, he worked for an investment fund specialized in healthcare. From 2007 to 2010, De Backer was president of Jong VLD Nationaal, the youth section of Open Vld. In that period, he was also a member of the city council of Kapellen.

Political career

From September 2011 onwards, De Backer was a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. He succeeded his party colleague Dirk Sterckx. He is a member of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

(ALDE), led by former Belgian Prime Minister

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium from 2009 until 2024. He was a me ...

. He dealt with the dossiers in the Transport Committee and the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. In 2014, he was appointed first successor at the European election list for

. In addition to his committee assignments, De Backer is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Long Term Investment and Reindustrialisation and of the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Uni ...

. On 29 April 2016, Philippe De Backer was chosen to succeed

Bart Tommelein Bart Joris Tommelein (born 4 May 1962) is a Belgian former politician for Open Vld who was minister in the Bourgeois Government. On October 13th 2024 he announced his retirement from politics after suffering a defeat in the local elections. Ca ...

as Secretary of State for Social fraud, Privacy and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

in the

Michel I Government The Michel I Government was the Federal Government of Belgium formed following the 2014 Belgian government formation and sworn in on 11 October 2014. The administration was a centre-right coalition of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the Christ ...

. He was succeeded by Lieve Wierinck as Member of the European Parliament. When the Michel I Government fell, De Backer also became Minister of Administrative Simplification, Digital Agenda, Postal Services and Telecom in the

Michel II Government The Michel II Government was the Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Minister Charles Michel from 18 December 2018 until 27 October 2019 when it was succeeded by the Wilmès I Government. It was a centre minority coalition cabinet of Ch ...

. On 24 January 2019, De Backer announced that he would quit politics, both locally and nationally, and return to business life as soon as a new government had taken office.Philippe De Backer stopt met politiek

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 ...

, 24 January 2019

References

External links

MEP Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Backer, Philippe 1978 births Living people Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats MEPs Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats politicians MEPs for Belgium 2009–2014 MEPs for Belgium 2014–2019 People from Ekeren