Tinne Van der Straeten
Minister of Energy
Assumed office
1 October 2020
MonarchPhilippe
Prime MinisterAlexander De Croo
Preceded byMarie-Christine Marghem
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
In office
20 June 2019 – 1 October 2020
ConstituencyBrussels
In office
28 June 2007 – 7 May 2010
ConstituencyBrussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
Personal details
Born (1978-04-01) 1 April 1978
Malle, Belgium
Political partyGroen
Residence(s)Koekelberg, Belgium
Alma materGhent University
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Occupation
  • Politician
WebsiteOfficial website

Tinne Van der Straeten (born 1 April 1978) is a Belgian politician who has been serving as Minister of Energy in the De Croo Government since October 2020. She is a member of the Groen party. She previously served in the Chamber of Representatives for Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde from 2007 to 2010 and later for Brussels from 2019 until 2020, when she resigned to become energy minister.

Early life and education

In 2000, Van der Straeten obtained a degree in African Studies at Ghent University. Subsequently, she started working as a researcher at Université catholique de Louvain. After this, she went to KU Leuven, where she researched labour discrimination. After her studies, she joined Agalev and she was active in Malle. In 2008, she obtained a law degree at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Political career

Rafael Mariano Grossi of IAEA meeting Tinne Van der Straeten in 2023

In the 2007 elections, Van der Straeten was elected a representative in the Belgian federal parliament for the first time. Three years later, in the 2010 elections, she wasn't re-elected. In 2018, Van der Straeten re-enters the political foreground. She becomes alderman of Public Works in Koekelberg[1] and a candidate for the 2019 federal elections on the Ecolo list in Brussels where she was re-elected as a representative. In her second passage in the Chamber, she worked out an agreement on the capacity remuneration mechanism.

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Van der Straeten led her party's policy shift of extending the life-span of Belgium's remaining nuclear power plants.[2] By July 2022, she reached an agreement in principle with energy provider Engie to extend the lifespan of two nuclear reactors — Doel 4 and Tihange 3 — by 10 years.[3]

In May 2022 she announced that Belgium would be funding work on small modular reactors of 25 million euros a year for four years.[4]

Timeline

  • 10/06/2007 – 13/06/2010: Representative (constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde)

References

  1. ↑ "Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) wordt schepen in Koekelberg". www.bruzz.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  2. ↑ Strauss, Marine (7 March 2022). "Belgian Greens make U-turn to consider nuclear plants extension". Reuters.
  3. ↑ Gijs, Camille (22 July 2022). "Belgium reaches tentative deal with Engie on extending nuclear reactors". Politico Europe.
  4. ↑ "Belgian government awards funding for SMRs - Nuclear Engineering International". www.neimagazine.com. Retrieved 2023-05-15.

Media related to Tinne Van der Straeten at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.