LOOK. The Wetstraat is not unknown territory for Paul Van Tigchelt
Van Quickenborne resigned on Friday in the aftermath of the attack in Brussels, in which two Swedes were shot dead. Since then there has been speculation about who would succeed him. All kinds of names were cited, such as ex-chairman Gwendolyn Rutten and vice-chairman Jasper Pillen, or a possible game of musical chairs with State Secretary for the Budget Alexia Bertrand. Van Tigchelt was not immediately at the top of the lists of favorites.
Fifty-year-old Van Tigchelt became publicly known when he became director of the OCAD in January 2016, a few months before the attacks on Zaventem airport and in the Brussels metro. In the previous years he worked at the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office.
The Wetstraat is not unknown territory for Van Tigchelt. As mentioned, he was active in the Van Quickenborne cabinet during this legislature and in the past he was spokesperson and deputy chief of staff for then Minister of the Interior Patrick Dewael.
LOOK. “On the one hand, someone who knows all the justice files, and on the other hand, someone who has not been elected and who gets such a large department”
With Van Tigchelt, the party has chosen someone who was involved in Justice policy on a daily basis and therefore does not need a break-in period. He will also take on the role of Deputy Prime Minister. This means that he is part of the core cabinet, in which the Prime Minister and the other deputy Prime Ministers sit and in which principle political decisions are often made.
At 5:30 PM, Van Tigchelt will take the oath in the palace as the new Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and the North Sea. Later Sunday evening, a press conference will take place at Open Vld to introduce him.