Olivier Chastel

Olivier Chastel

Olivier Chastel.
Chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur
Assumed office
13 October 2014
Preceded by Charles Michel
Federal Minister for Budget and Administrative Simplification
In office
6 December 2011 – 13 October 2014
Preceded by Guy Vanhengel (Budget)
Vincent Van Quickenborne ( Administrative Simplification)
Succeeded by Hervé Jamar (Budget)
Theo Francken ( Administrative Simplification)
Personal details
Born (1964-11-22) 22 November 1964
Liège, Belgium
Political party Mouvement Réformateur
Occupation politician

Olivier Chastel (born in Liège on 22 November 1964) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Liberal Party "Mouvement Réformateur" (MR). Olivier Chastel graduated in Pharmacy at the Université libre de Bruxelles in 1987.

Biography

After finishing his studies at the Athénée Royal in Charleroi in 1982, Olivier Chastel graduates in Pharmacy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1987.

For some years, he has been working as a research assistant at the Analytical Chemistry Department at the Pharmacy Institute (ULB). He was a scientific collaborator of the Analysis Laboratory Quality Assistance in Thuin, where he once was head of department and became a specialist in Quality Assurance.

In 1998, Olivier Chastel scales back his professional activities and becomes involved with local politics, combining this new challenge with his passion for tennis and for breeding the Flanders Cattle Dog "Bouvier des Flandres".

Since 1993, he has been a city councillor in Charleroi and in 1998, he joins the Walloon Parliament, in substitution for Etienne Knoops.

A few months later, he heads the liberal list for the Chamber of Representatives in the Charleroi – Thuin district. In June 1999, he obtains 12.000 votes and starts his federal career. Olivier Chastel also took part in the Commission for Infrastructure of the Chamber and in the SABENA commission. As the President of the Petitions Commission, he supported the tasks of the Federal Ombudsmen, charged with the simplification of the relations between the authorities and citizens. In May 2003, Olivier Chastel obtains 22.133 preferential votes at the legislative elections in the canton of Hainaut and becomes Vice-President of the Chamber of Representatives.

From February until July 2004, Olivier Chastel holds the position of Minister of Arts, Literature and Audiovisual Matters.

On the city level, Olivier Chastel obtains more than 17.000 votes in the October 2006 election. Moreover, since 4 December 2006, the liberal party MR also takes part in the city council of Charleroi with two aldermen in the Municipal Executive.

At the federal elections in June 2007, Olivier Chastel also heads the list for the Chamber of Representatives for the canton of Hainaut.

At this occasion, the MR obtains 199.859 votes in the canton of Hainaut, which was a gain of 40.000 votes compared to 2003. The votes increased by 5% and 27%, which is the largest score the MR had ever reached in the Hainaut. But these exceptional results also allowed the MR to win a sixth seat in the Chamber of Representatives. Olivier Chastel, for his part, triples his score of 2003. With his 67.180 preferential votes, he obtains the second best score for the MR in the Chamber.

On 20 March 2008, Oliver Chastel was appointed State Secretary for European Affairs. In the European elections of June 2009, Olivier Chastel (3rd on the list, Louis Michel was leading) obtains 74.616 preferential votes.

In the last elections of 2010, Olivier Chastel is re-elected as a representative in the Chamber of Representatives. After a successful Belgian Presidency in the Council of the European Union, Olivier Chastel becomes in February 2011 Minister of Development Cooperation, charged with European Affairs. He succeeds Charles Michel who has been elected as President of the Mouvement Réformateur.

Thus, Olivier Chastel continues his career at the federal level. Since 6 December 2011, he has been Minister for Budget and Administrative Simplification.

Political career

Distinctions

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olivier Chastel.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.