Robby De Caluwé (born 1 January 1975) is a Belgian politician for

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 ...

. He is

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Moerbeke-Waas Moerbeke () is a former municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It is sometimes unofficially called Moerbeke-Waas () to distinguish between this place and in Geraardsbergen. The municipality comprises the town of Moerbeke proper ...

since 2013 and member of the

Belgian Federal Parliament The Federal Parliament (; ; ) is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). It sits in the Palace of the Nation in the centre of the nation's capital, Brussels ...

since 2019.

Biography

De Caluwé studied

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

between 1994 and 1997. He worked as a Branch Manager at

SD Worx SD may refer to: Military and weaponry * Smith & Wesson SD, a line of pistol (first made 2010) * SD radar, an early US Navy radar system * Southern Cross Decoration (SD), a South African military award Organisations Political parties * De ...

until 2011. In 2011 he started his own

Human Resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

company.

Political career

In 1994, De Caluwé started his political career in Young VLD Moerbeke. Very soon, he became secretary, and later

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

. During a short period, he was also a member of the national party council from Open Vld. In 2010 he became chairman of Open Vld Moerbeke. He started in local politics in Moerbeke and became member of the council after the elections in 2000. After his predecessor

Filip Marin Filip () is a masculine given name and a surname, cognate to Philip. The male name Filip comes from the Greek "philos" (love) and "hippos" (horse), which means "horse lover". In Croatia, the name Filip was among the most common masculine given nam ...

left the party, he was asked to pull the list for the elections in 2012. He obtained 860 preference votes and was by far the most popular politician in his city. In 2018, he became more popular and obtained 1,129 votes. This result made him the second most popular mayor in

Waasland The Waasland (, archaically "Waesland") or Land van Waas () is a historic region in northern Belgium. It is part of the Belgian province of East Flanders. The other borders are with the Scheldt and Durme rivers (east and south) and, to the north, ...

, after

Michel Du Tré Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

from

Waasmunster Waasmunster () is a municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, ...

. During the federal elections of 2019, he was first successor. Since

Mathias De Clercq Mathias Toon Cecil Willy De Clercq, Jonkheer, esq. (born 26 December 1981, Ghent) is a Belgians, Belgian politician. He is a member of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, Flemish liberal party. At the moment he is the List of mayors of Ghen ...

did not take up his mandate, he became a Member of Parliament for the constituency 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 ...

. De Caluwé is a member of the committees "Health and Equal Chances" and "Naturalizations". On 2 July 2020 he has been nominated president of the special committee charged with investigating Belgium's approach to the COVID-19 epidemic

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Caluwe, Robby People from Moerbeke 1975 births Living people Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats politicians People from Lokeren