Christoph D'Haese
Mayor of Aalst
Assumed office
2013
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
Assumed office
2014
Personal details
Born (1967-02-25) 25 February 1967
Aalst
NationalityBelgian
Political partyN-VA (2011-)
Open VLD (2006-2011)
ResidenceAalst

Christoph D'Haese (born 25 February 1967) is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA.[1]

Biography

D'Haese was born in 1967 in Aalst. He studied for a degree in law at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU-Leuven) and the University of Strasbourg. He worked as a lawyer specializing in criminal law and taught law at KU-Leuven. He also served on the Bar of Dendermonde until 2013.[2][1] In 2006, he was elected to the municipal council of Aalst for the Open VLD party and became chairman of the local council. In 2011, he left the Open-VLD and joined the New Flemish Alliance.[2] In 2014, he was elected as the Member of the Chamber of Representatives for the East Flanders constituency.[3]

D'Haese has also served as the mayor of Aalst since 2013. In 2019, D'Haese became involved in a dispute with UNESCO after UNESCO threatened to remove the Aalst Carnival from its world list of cultural heritage due to what was seen as anti-Semitic imagery on a float at the carnival. D'Haese argued that the floats featured at the carnival were based on satire rather than racism; however, the float was condemned by fellow N-VA politician André Gantman, who is Jewish.[4] Unia, the Belgian independent arbitrator for matters concerning discrimination, found that no laws had been broken.[5] The incident led to widespread condemnation from multiple organizations, including the European Commission.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Christoph d'Haese". 28 March 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Alle ogen zijn nu op d'Haese gericht".
  3. ↑ Lievens, Rutger (2019-05-27). "Christoph D'Haese (N-VA): "Partijen die niet kritisch staan tegen religie, verliezen het meest"". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  4. ↑ Moses, Claire (5 December 2019). "Anti-Semitic Imagery Could Cost Belgian Carnival Its UNESCO Status". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ ADN (8 March 2019). "Unia: "Aalsterse carnavalsgroep heeft geen wetten overtreden met praalwagen"". hln.be.
  6. ↑ "Aalst Jewish caricatures condemned by European Commission". The Brussels News. 5 March 2019.


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