Patrick Janssens

Patrick Janssens is a Belgian former politician. He was a member of the SP.a and the former mayor of the port city Antwerp.

Career

Janssens studied "Political and Social Sciences" and "Applied Economic Sciences" at the University of Antwerp and Statistics at the London School of Economics. From 1979 to 1985 he was an assistant in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Antwerp, first of Jan Vranken and then of Herman Deleeck.
From 1985 to 1989, he ran a market research agency after which he undertook several positions at the marketing agency VVL/BBDO until 1999.
In 1999, he was appointed president of the Socialist Party. He resigned as president to become mayor of Antwerp in 2003. In the general election held the same year, Janssens was elected to the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives but he left the Chamber one year later when the 2004 regional elections saw Janssens becoming a member of the Flemish Parliament. In the municipal elections of 2006, he was overwhelmingly elected for another term as mayor.
He was longlisted for the 2008 World Mayor award.
Janssens lost the 2012 municipal elections to Bart De Wever of the N-VA.
On 25 August 2014, he became general director of football club KRC Genk but was succeeded by on 9 February 2018
, and on the 2 of January he was elected councilman in the De Wever Government.
In January 2021, suspected of forgery, he was one of the fifty Belgian football personalities involved in the "Footbelgate" whose referral to the Antwerp Criminal Court was requested by the federal prosecutor's office.
In 2022, Janssens faced forgery accusations as part of Operation Clean Hands during his tenure as CEO of KRC Genk.
After being elected and with the management agreement between Vooruit and N-VA finalized, he was appointed alderman for Housing and Urban Development on January 2, 2025.