Who is Belgian Minister Van Quickenborne, and why would he be a target of drug criminals?

The Belgian Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne in Brussels in May.Image BELGA

It may have led to a few frowns when the Belgian Minister of Justice on Saturday afternoon Nolite te bastardes carborundorum tweeted, but the one who started the series The Handmaid’s Tale at least knew what this phrase pseudo-Latin means: Don’t let the bastards get you down.

This message characterizes Vincent Van Quickenborne in several respects. Firstly, the minister undoubtedly wants to say that he will not succumb to the drug criminals who threaten to kidnap him. At the end of last week, Belgian justice received signals that there are serious plans for this, and on Thursday a suspicious car parked in the minister’s street rushed off as soon as the police noticed him. On Friday, straps, bottles of petrol and a Kalashnikov were found in another car that the suspects had left on the same street. A suspicious package was also found at the home of the minister on Monday. The explosives disposal service was on site and local residents were asked to leave their homes.

From the far left to liberal

The message on Twitter also fits the image that Van Quickenborne carefully cultivates: at 49 years old, he is still the same young dog as when he entered the political arena in 1999 at the age of 25. At that time, Van Quickenborne was the youngest Belgian senator ever, who casually said that he wanted to smoke a joint in the workplace. Now he is still the type who occasionally dances on a table, and the minister, for example, allows himself to be photographed at a metal festival with a beer in his hand. Last year he went down on his knees, stuck out his tongue, and made the ‘horn gesture’ (index finger and little finger up) with his hand.

The man who goes by the name of ‘Q’ or ‘Quicky’ has come a long way from the far left to the dark blue of the liberals. As a youngster, Van Quickenborne was a member of the Marxist-Leninist movement Amada (All Power to the Workers), and became known when he became active in the network of the white committees: groups that, after the Dutroux affair, corrected the shortcomings of politics and justice. denounced.

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Van Quickenborne took his first steps in politics with the ID21 think tank, which worked together with the Flemish nationalist People’s Union. When this party exploded, Van Quickenborne found shelter with the left-liberal Spirit, and later switched to the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld). He was successively state secretary, minister and deputy prime minister. ‘Quicky’ was also the first Belgian politician with a weblog.

However, according to political scientist Carl Devos (UGent), as Minister of Justice, Van Quickenborne profiles himself more on building prisons and speeding up the slow process of justice than on combating drug crime. ‘Although as a minister he is of course an important face in the fight against drugs.’

On Twitter, Van Quickenborne, who is now in hiding with his wife and two children, shows himself firmly after the threats. Our fight against organized crime continues. With more manpower and more resources than ever. We will not yield to violence.’ Devos recognizes that tone. ‘He likes to portray himself as a man who acts decisively, looks for a solution, and doesn’t lose any time.’

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