Two Belgium female ministers from Moroccan origin have been nominated in the Belgium Government of the new prime minister Alexander De Croo. Belgium’s new federal administration was sworn in on Thursday ,1st October 2020, before King Philippe Leopold, giving the country its first complete federal governments in two years.
Mrs Meryame Kitir, 40, from the Flemish socialist party, is the new minister for development and cooperation. She is, a former worker at the car factory Ford, in the Flemish city of Genk. Her parents immigrated from Morocco in the ‘60s, where her father worked as a miner in the Limburg mines. She grew up with her 11 brothers and sisters. The young woman started very early her involvement in politics and became a member of the chamber after being elected (2006) at the city council of Maasmechelen and at the federal elections in 2007.
Mrs Zakia Khattabi, 44, from the Francophone greens -Ecolo- has been nominated minister of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development .The woman from Moroccan origin, has a bachelor of social work from the Free University of Brussels ((ULB). She was elected for the first time in the Brussels Parliament in 2009. Three years later she became the leader of the group green party and in 2015 she became the president of the party.
As a reminder King Philippe Leopold swore in a 20-member gender-equal federal cabinet made up of 14 ministers and five secretaries of state (10 Francophone, 9 Dutch-speaking), plus new premier Alexander De Croo, a native Dutch speaker.