Stefaan Van Hecke is a Belgian (

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 ...

)

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He is 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 ...

(

Chamber of Representatives of Belgium 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 ...

) for the ecological party

Groen! Groen (; ), founded as Agalev, is a green Flemish political party in Belgium. The main pillars of the party are social justice, human rights, and ecologism. Its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo; the two parties maintain close relations wit ...

. He was first elected in June 2007. He was re-elected in 2010, 2014, and 2019.

Biography

Van Hecke obtained a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

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 ...

. To learn more about environmental law, he also got a degree in Environmental Science 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. ...

Political career

His political career started in 1990, when he joined "Agalev" (the then so-called green party in Flanders) in his home town Merelbeke. In 1992 he founded "Jong Agalev", the youngsters division of the green party, in Merelbeke. In 1996 he was elected into the provincial council. He kept that mandate until 2006. In the local and provincial elections in

Merelbeke Merelbeke () is a former 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 Count ...

, Stefaan Van Hecke changed the provincial council for the city council. He led his party to victory, which led to him being chosen to lead Groen! in the provincial constituency of Eastern Flanders for the national parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Hecke, Stefaan Flemish politicians Living people Groen (political party) politicians 1973 births Ghent University alumni University of Antwerp alumni 21st-century Belgian politicians