Liesbeth Homans
Liesbeth Homans is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to New Flemish Alliance. She was elected as a member of the Flemish Parliament in 2009 and as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2010. She has served as Minister-president of Flanders and Speaker of the Flemish Parliament since 2019.
Biography
Homans was born in 1973 in Wilrijk. She graduated in 1998 as a licentiate in history at the Catholic University of Leuven and obtained a degree in international politics at the University of Antwerp. During her student days she was active in the Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond group where she met future N-VA leader Bart De Wever. 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 in Antwerp from 2013 until July 2014, when she became a member of the Bourgeois Government 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 in succession of Geert Bourgeois as he became member of the European parliament. 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 Speaker of the Flemish Parliament.