Sven Gatz

Sven Gatz (born 6 May 1967 in Sint-Agatha-Berchem) is a Flemish Open Vld politician and the current Brussels Minister of Finance, Budget, Civil Service and Multilingualism in the government of the Brussels-Capital Region.

Sven Gatz
Flemish Minister for Culture Sven Gatz visiting the Lange Max Museum (June 2016)

From 1999 to 2011 he was member of the Flemish Parliament and from 2007 to 2011 he was leader of the Open Vld group there.[1] He started as member of the Volksunie and switched to Open Vld when Volksunie was split. From 2000 to 2012 he was also member of the municipal council of Jette. In the 2012 local elections, he was not re-elected.

In 2011, he left politics to become director of the Union of Belgian Brewers.[2]

In July 2014, he returned to politics when he became Flemish Minister for Culture, Youth, Media and Brussels in the Bourgeois Government as Open Vld had to provide the required minister living in Brussels.

As Minister for Culture, his term of office has been marked by a decree that also makes libraries a municipal matter, no longer a Flemish one, and absolves the municipalities of their obligation to organise a local public library.[3] This government decision was controversial and caused community leaders to speak out against it.[4][5][6][7]

References
  1. "Member of the Flemish Parliament". vlaamsparlement.be.
  2. "Sven Gatz neemt ontslag uit Vlaams Parlement". De Standaard. 15 April 2011.
  3. "Bibliotheek vanaf 2016 geen verplichting meer voor gemeenten". VRT Nieuws. 12 March 2015.
  4. "De soort para's die ik wél in de straten wil hebben". De Morgen. 13 March 2015.
  5. "Wat ik te danken heb aan mijn bibliotheek". De Standaard. 13 March 2015.
  6. "Bibliotheken afbreken: het is onbegrijpelijk en een schande". De Morgen. 13 March 2015.
  7. "Jeroen Olyslaegers over afschaffing 'bibliotheekplicht': "Sluipmoord"". De Morgen. 13 March 2015.

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