Famous Politicians from Belgium
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List of famous politicians from Belgium, listed alphabetically with photos when available. This list of popular Belgian politicians includes members of the ...
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Adolphe Deschamps (French: [deʃɑ̃]; also Dechamps French: [dəʃɑ̃]; 17 June 1807 – 19 July 1875) was a Belgian statesman and publisher, the brother of Cardinal Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps. He entered public life about 1830 and soon became popular through his contributions to several Catholic newspapers. Having founded, with his friend Pierre de Decker, La Revue de Bruxelles, he advocated in that paper a system of parliamentary government which was termed "government of the centres". The ministries were to be composed of Catholics and Liberals and to be supported by the moderate elements of the two parties. The scheme worked for some years. In 1834 Dechamps was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, where his talent as an orator soon secured him a prominent position. In 1836 he participated very actively in the discussion of the bill on the organization of the communes, and in 1839 he opposed the Treaty of London, 1839. The Great Powers had imposed that treaty on Belgium and the Netherlands in 1834, but the latter had delayed accepting it in the hope that she might eventually obtain better conditions. Deschamps, with many others, held that by this delay the Netherlands had forfeited her right to the advantages granted her by the Powers and they urged the Government to appeal to arms rather than to surrender any part of Belgian territory. This warlike policy, however, would have been opposed by the Great Powers, and peace was finally signed with the Netherlands. He also played a leading part in the passing of the bill on elementary education. Up to 1842 there had been no elementary public schools in Belgium, although there were numerous schools organized under the direction of the clergy. One of the provisions of the new bill enacted that religious instruction was to form an essential part of public education and to be under the control of the clergy. The bill was passed almost unanimously by the votes of both Catholics and Liberals. From 1843 to 1848 Dechamps was a member of several ministries. After the defeat of his party in 1848 he became the leader of the Catholic minority in the Chamber of Representatives and retained that position for several years. In 1864 he retired from politics and engaged in financial enterprises, but his ventures proved unsuccessful.

Alain Courtois (born 12 June 1951) is a Belgian politician. Born in Schaerbeek, he is Secretary General of the Belgian Football Association (URBSFA). He has served as a replacement minister on several occasions. He was the federally appointed Reformist Movement—Citizens' Movement for Change representative of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district from 26 June 2003 to 12 February 2004, replacing Daniel Ducarme, who became Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region and minister of Arts, Letters and Audio-visual of the French Community of Belgium. From 19 February 2004 to 28 June 2004 he served as a replacement for Jacques Simonet, who replaced Ducarme in the Minister-President post following a scandal. Since 1 July 2004 he has served as a replacement for Martine Payfa, who was elected to the Belgian Federal Parliament from the Brussels-Capital Region. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2007.Courtois is a supporter of football in Belgium, and is a frequent commentator on the RTL sports radio program "Vasyavoirdusport." He led the organizing committee of 2000 UEFA European Championship, which was held jointly in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2006, he was named to lead the Benelux bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, known as Beltomundial. He also led Brussels' successful bid to host the Grand Départ of the 2019 Tour de France.