Minister of Development Cooperation
What was the position of Alexander De Croo in Oct 2014?
Alexander De Croo Alexander De Croo ( born 3 November 1975 ) is a Belgian politician and businessman who has served as Prime Minister of Belgium since October 2020 . De Croo was born in Vilvoorde , Flemish Brabant , and studied business engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel before attaining an MBA at Northwestern University . He worked for Boston Consulting Group before starting his own company , Darts-ip , in 2006 . De Croo became involved with the Belgian political party Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten ( Open VLD ) , of which he was chairman from 2009 to 2012 . From 2012 to 2020 , De Croo served in the governments of Elio Di Rupo , Charles Michel , and Sophie Wilmès as a deputy prime minister of Belgium . During his tenure as deputy prime minister he served as the Minister of Pensions from 2012 to 2014 , as Minister of Development Cooperation from 2014 to 2020 , and as Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2020 . On 1 October 2020 , over a year after the 2019 federal elections , the De Croo Government was formed to replace Wilmès minority government , with De Croo as Prime Minister . Early life and career . Alexander De Croo was born on 3 November 1975 in Vilvoorde in Flemish Brabant , Belgium and was one of two children of the politician and Minister of State Herman De Croo and his wife Françoise Desguin . In 1993 , he attended the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where he graduated in 1998 in Business Engineering . He attended Northwestern University in Evanston , Illinois in 2002 , and completed an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management in 2004 . Prior to his political career , De Croo became a project leader at Boston Consulting Group in 1999 . In 2006 he founded a new company called Darts-ip which specialized in providing services to intellectual property professionals . Early political career . In 2009 , De Croo participated for the first time in politics , standing in the 2009 European elections . He received more than 47,000 votes . On 26 October , De Croo became a candidate for the presidency of his political party , Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats ( Open VLD ) , to succeed the transitional party 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 , he was elected president in the second round with 11,676 votes ; Marino Keulen received 9,614 votes . His election was considered remarkable as he had almost no previous experience as a politician . Since his father was a politician , non-politicians would call this nepotism . Political crisis . Five months after being elected party leader , De Croo threatened to withdraw the Open VLD from the governing coalition if there was no solution to the constitutional dispute in the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde voting issue . After Open VLDs deadline passed the party left the government and then Prime Minister Yves Leterme announced the governments resignation . This was accepted by King Albert II on 26 April 2010 . During the elections for the Senate in 2010 , De Croo obtained more than 301,000 votes , the third most in the Dutch-speaking constituency and served as a senator until 22 October 2012 . Career in government . Part of the Di Rupo government . De Croo succeeded Van Quickenborne in the Di Rupo Government as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Pensions on 22 October 2012 after Van Quickenborne resigned to become mayor of Kortrijk . In December Gwendolyn Rutten was elected as the new chairwoman of Open VLD . Part of the Michel I and II governments . After the 2014 Belgian federal election and its Federal Government formation , it was decided that he would remain Deputy Prime Minister in the newly formed Michel I Government . De Croo also became Minister of Development Cooperation , Digital Agenda , Telecom and Postal Services while Daniel Bacquelaine took over from him as Minister of Pensions . This government took office on 11 October 2014 . During De Croos time in office , Belgium became the first country to suspend official development assistance to Burundi after the beginning of violent unrest in the African country from 2015 . In 2017 , De Croo pledged €25 million ( $26.81 million ) through 2025 to eradicate African sleeping sickness . 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 . After a disagreement within the government over the UN Global Compact for Migration , the N-VA left the governing coalition , causing the administration to become a minority government on 9 December 2018 , known as Michel II . De Croo became Minister of Finance , replacing Johan Van Overtveldt . In December 2018 , De Croo took the stage during the Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100 concert in Johannesburg , South Africa . It was the final event of the international campaign #SheIsEqual for womens rights which attracted €780 million in commitments . Part of the Wilmès I and II governments . Under the caretaker administration of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès , he oversaw a financial stimulus package to tackle the COVID-19 crisis and a deal to save Brussels Airlines in 2020 . He was elected joint deputy chairman of Open VLD , together with Egbert Lachaert . Prime Minister . On 23 September 2020 , Alexander De Croo and Paul Magnette ( PS ) were appointed by the King to form a government . On 30 September 2020 , it was announced that De Croo would take over the position of Prime Minister of Belgium , succeeding Wilmès . His government has a higher proportion of women ministers than any previous Belgian government : half of the ministers are women . Political views and ideology . Like the majority of party leaders in Belgium , De Croo is in favour of greater limits on the political power of the Belgian monarch . He is of the opinion that the monarchs power should be ceremonial , similar to that of other Western European monarchs . Personal life . De Croo is married to Annik Penders and they have two children . He is a keen equestrian and takes part in a formal event each year together with his father ; in 2010 he broke a foot and an elbow when he fell from his horse . He is fluent in Dutch , English and in French , the mother tongue of his mother . Other activities . European Union organizations . - European Investment Bank ( EIB ) , ex-officio member of the Board of Governors ( since 2018 ) - European Stability Mechanism , member of the Board of Governors ( since 2018 ) International organizations . - African Development Bank ( AfDB ) , ex-officio member of the Board of Governors - Asian Development Bank ( ADB ) , ex-officio member of the Board of Governors - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( EBRD ) , ex-officio member of the Board of Governors ( since 2018 ) Non-profit organizations . - World Economic Forum ( WEF ) , member of the Europe Policy Group ( since 2017 )