Alexander De Croo

Alexander De Croo (born 3 November 1975) is a Flemish liberal politician, economist and businessman.[1] He currently holds the office of Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister of Finance and Development Cooperation. From 2009 until 2012, he was party leader of (Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD).

In this Dutch name, the family name is De Croo, not Croo.
Alexander De Croo
Minister of Finance
Assumed office
9 December 2018
Prime MinisterCharles Michel
Sophie Wilmès
Preceded byJohan Van Overtveldt
Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium
Assumed office
22 October 2012
Prime MinisterElio Di Rupo
Charles Michel
Sophie Wilmès
Preceded byLaurette Onkelinx
Minister of Pensions
In office
22 October 2012 – 11 October 2014
Prime MinisterElio Di Rupo
Preceded byVincent Van Quickenborne
Succeeded byDaniel Bacquelaine
Leader of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats
In office
12 December 2009 – 22 October 2012
DeputyVincent Van Quickenborne
Patricia Ceysens
Preceded byGuy Verhofstadt (Acting)
Succeeded byGuy Verhofstadt (Acting)
Minister of Development Cooperation
Assumed office
11 October 2014
Prime MinisterCharles Michel
Sophie Wilmès
Preceded byJean-Pascal Labille
Personal details
Born (1975-11-03) 3 November 1975
Vilvoorde, Belgium
Political partyOpen Flemish Liberals and Democrats
Alma materFree University of Brussels, Dutch
Northwestern University
WebsitePersonal site

Biography

Alexander De Croo is the son of former Belgian minister and president of the Chamber of Representatives Herman De Croo. In 1998, he graduated in Business Engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He attended Northwestern University in Chicago in 2002 to complete an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management.

Before his political career, Alexander De Croo became a project leader of The Boston Consulting Group in 1999. Starting from 2006, he founded a new company called Darts-ip specialized in providing service to Intellectual Property professionals.[2][3]

In 2009, he participated for the first time in politics with the 2009 European elections. He received 47.779 preference votes while being positioned tenth on the party ballot. During the elections for the Senate in 2010, he obtained 301.917 preference votes, the third most in the Dutch-speaking constituency.

Chairman of Open VLD

On 26 October 2009, he became a candidate for the presidency of his political party Open VLD to succeed the transitional president Guy Verhofstadt. He chose Vincent Van Quickenborne and Patricia Ceysens as his running mates to compete against Marino Keulen and Gwendolyn Rutten. On 12 December 2009, he was elected president in the second round with 11.676 votes. Marino Keulen received 9.614 votes.[4] His election is remarkable because he does not have any previous experience practicing a political mandate.[5]

Ministerial office

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Pensions

Alexander De Croo succeeded Vincent Van Quickenborne in the Di Rupo Government as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Pensions on October 22, 2012. Van Quickenborne resigned to become mayor of Kortrijk. Guy Verhofstadt was appointed transitional party president before Gwendolyn Rutten was elected as the new chairwoman of Open VLD.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services

In the Michel Government, which took office on October 11, 2014, De Croo holds the office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services.

During his time in office, Belgium became the first country to suspend official development assistance to Burundi after the beginning of violent clashes in the African country from 2015.[6] In 2017, he pledged 25 million euros ($26.81 million) through 2025 to eradicate African sleeping sickness.[7] He also was one of the founders of the She Decides-movement, a reaction against the re-installation of the Mexico City Policy by President Donald Trump. In December 2018, De Croo took the stage during the Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100 concert in Johannesburg. It was the final of the international campaign #SheIsEqual for women's rights which collected 780 million euros in commitments.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Development Cooperation

In the Michel II Government, Alexander De Croo succeeded Johan Van Overtveldt as Minister of Finance, a portfolio which he combined with his previous portfolio of Development Cooperation.

Other activities

European Union organizations

International organizations

Non-profit organizations
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References
  1. "Alexanderdecroo.be". Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  2. "Darts-ip". Archived from the original on 2010-01-21.
  3. "Alexander De Croo". Archived from the original on 2009-12-16. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  4. Alexander De Croo is de nieuwe voorzitter van Open Vld, website Open VLD, 12 December 2009
  5. Open VLD kiest met Alexander De Croo voor avontuur, De Standaard, 12 December 2009
  6. Robert-Jan Bartunek (May 11, 2015), Belgium suspends aid to Burundi after pre-election unrest Reuters.
  7. Stephanie Nebehay (April 19, 2017), Gates backs Big Pharma push to wipe out tropical diseases Reuters.
  8. Board of Governors European Investment Bank (EIB).
  9. Board of Governors: Alexander De Croo European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
  10. AfDB Annual Report 2017 African Development Bank (AfDB).
  11. Board of Governors Asian Development Bank (ADB).
  12. Board of Governors European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
  13. Board of Governors Archived 2018-11-04 at the Wayback Machine Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC).
  14. Board of Governors Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group.
  15. Board of Governors World Bank.
  16. Europe Policy Group World Economic Forum.
  17. Board of Trustees Friends of Europe.
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