Nicole de Moor – Sammy Mahdi’s chief of staff – will be the new State Secretary for Asylum and Migration. She received the blessing of 88 percent of the members of the CD&V party council on Monday evening. “We sometimes call her the warm Margaret Thatcher of Flanders,” said Mahdi.
The choice for the Moor is a surprise. Sammy Mahdi chooses his chief of staff, which has the advantage that she hardly has to familiarize herself with the matter. However, it was assumed that the new CD&V chairman would choose a Member of Parliament. The names of Els Van Hoof and Nahima Lanjri circulated. But they won’t be.
Mahdi called her “experience and innovation in one person” on Monday evening. “We sometimes call her the warm Margaret Thatcher of Flanders. She is strict, but fair and able to position the party correctly, also in the coming years.”
According to the party, De Moor is chosen for “a strong woman with tons of experience in the Asylum and Migration department”. “Nicole de Moor is experience and innovation in one person. She is a new face to the general public, but she has already covered a lot of miles behind the scenes. Nicole is the migration expert of the Wetstraat. With Nicole, and earlier also the choice for Jo Brouns in the Flemish government, we consistently opt for talent and innovation. Le nouveau CD&V est arrivé”, says a CD&V press release.
From behind the scenes to the foreground
Nicole de Moor became active in 2014 as a migration specialist in the cabinets of successively Minister Kris Peeters, Minister Nathalie Muylle and Minister Koen Geens. She has been the private secretary of State Secretary Sammy Mahdi since the start of the term of office.
“I am extremely honored to be given this task. I am a very committed person by nature and I am convinced that the vision of CD&V and Sammy on our society is the right one. We want an organized migration policy with clear rules. Until recently, I mainly did that behind the scenes. I will continue the work on a firm but fair migration policy, but from now on I will do that from the forefront”, responds de Moor himself.
The 38-year-old Nicole de Moor comes from Sint-Gillis-Waas and currently lives in the Brussels borough of Anderlecht, but has plans to return to East Flanders in the short term. In 2019 she was on the Brussels CD&V list for the Flemish parliament. She is a lawyer by training and, in addition to a PhD, also holds a degree in International and European Law from the University of Amsterdam. De Moor is married and has two young children.
Tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock she will be introduced in more detail during a press conference. Just before that, at 9:30 am, she takes the oath before the king.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.