Filip Dewinter
| Filip Dewinter | |
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Filip Dewinter speaking at the Vlaams Blok party congress on 6 June 2004
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| Member of the Flemish Parliament | |
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Assumed office 21 May 1995 |
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| Member of the Chamber of Representatives | |
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In office 13 December 1987 – 21 May 1995 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Philip Michel Frans Dewinter 11 September 1962 Bruges |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Political party | Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang |
| Spouse(s) | Lutgarde Verboven |
| Children | Karolien An-Sofie Veroniek |
| Residence | Antwerp (Ekeren) |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Website | www.filipdewinter.be |
Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter (born 11 September 1962) is a Flemish politician in Belgium. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party. Together with Hugo Coveliers of the VLOTT party, Dewinter formed a list cartel for the city elections of Antwerp on 8 October 2006.
His father was studying medicine at the Leuven University during the Second World War, when he had to hide, as the threat of being deported by the Germans increased. He was nevertheless arrested and already after a few months of imprisonment in Bruges, had been deported to Germany to work in a munitions factory. He returned, after the war, sick and emaciated and unable to take up his studies again.
Dewinter’s grandfather on mother's side was a resistance fighter who had been very active in the resistance group, the Witte Brigade (White Brigade), in Blankenberge.
Dewinter was already politically active during his high school years at the Sint-Franciscus-Xaverius instituut in Bruges. In 1978, as a 16-year-old, he founded the Flemish Student Action Group (Vlaamse Studenten Actie Groep), that later was transformed into the Nationalist Young Students League (Nationalistisch Jong Studenten Verbond). In that year he was briefly a member of the Flemish People's Party (Vlaamse Volkspartij). In September 1982, he moved to Antwerp, where he did not complete his first year (candidate) in political and social sciences at the University of Antwerp, and became a member of the Nationalist Student Society (Nationalistische Studentenvereniging), one of the ideological seminaries of the Vlaams Belang. In 1983, he became a member of the Flemish Block (Vlaams Blok). He completed a journalist degree at the Erasmus College (Erasmus Handelsschool) in 1985. In November 1987, he was elected , in which he formed a political faction with Gerolf Annemans (who, earlier that year, had succeeded to founder-Flemish Block president Karel Dillen). Under Dewinter's leadership, the parliamentary group continued to grow, notably in 1991, when the Flemish Block, from a small party, grew to about 12% of the voters. This growth has continued ever since, though it success is starting to decline due to the rise of other parties like e.g. Lijst Dedecker.
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