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. This party is the ideological and juridical successor of the Vlaams Blok, which, lacking legal personality, was indirectly condemned and fined for racism in 2004 in a trial against three moral persons that constituted the Blok's financial hardware. 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.

Bart Albert Liliane De Wever (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɑrt də ˈʋeːvər]; born in Mortsel, 21 December 1970) is a Flemish politician and since 2004 has been the president of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a Flemish party that strives for an independent Flanders in a united Europe. He has also been a member of the Flemish parliament since 2004. He played a prominent role in the 2007 Belgian government formation and led his party to victory in the 2010 Belgian federal elections, after which the N-VA became the largest party in both Flanders and the whole of Belgium.

De Wever attended the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), graduating with a licentiate (which is the equivalent of the master's degree) in history. During his student years he was a member of the Liberaal Vlaams Studentenverbond (LVSV, Liberal Flemish Students' Union), the Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (KVHV, Catholic Flemish Students' Union) of Antwerp and Leuven. He is also the former editor in chief of Tegenstroom (magazine of KVHV-Antwerp) and Ons Leven (magazine of KVHV-Leuven). Professionally, he was engaged as a scientific assistant working on the 'Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Beweging' (New Encyclopedia of the Flemish Movement), in which he wrote articles about Taal Aktiekomitee, Vlaams Blok and Vlaamse Militanten Orde (Flemish Militants Order), among other topics.

Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɪm fɔrˈtœyn]; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in 2002.

Fortuyn provoked controversy with his stated views about multiculturalism, immigration and Islam in the Netherlands. He called Islam "a backward culture", and said that if it were legally possible he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants. He was labelled a far-right populist by his opponents and in the media, but he fiercely rejected this label and explicitly distanced himself from "far-right" politicians such as the Belgian Filip Dewinter, the Austrian Jörg Haider, or Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Pen whenever compared to them. While Fortuyn compared his own politics to centre-right politicians such as Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, he also admired former Dutch Prime Minister Joop den Uyl, a socialist, and former Democratic U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Fortuyn however repeatedly described himself and LPF's ideology as pragmatism and not populism. Fortuyn was openly homosexual.

Kris Peeters (18 May 1962) is a Flemish politician and member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party who is currently Minister-President of Flanders, the northern region of Belgium.

Peeters served from 1991 to 1994 as Director of the NCMV research department. In 1994 he became Secretary-General of NCMV and when NCMV was reformed into the SME interest group UNIZO in 1999, he became its first managing director. In 2004, although not having been a candidate for public office at the 2004 regional elections, Peeters was asked to become a member of the Flemish Government. He resigned his position with UNIZO and became Flemish Minister for Public Works, Energy, the Environment and Nature.

During the 2006 municipal elections, Peeters ran for public office the first time in his career and was elected a member of the city council of his home town Puurs. In the 2007 Belgian general elections, Peeters was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives but chose not to take his seat, instead he succeeded Yves Leterme as Minister-President of Flanders, as Leterme headed the CD&V coalition talks for a new Belgian government. Peeters also gave up his former competences to Hilde Crevits and took on the responsibilities for Institutional Affairs, Agriculture and Sea Fisheries, formerly belonging to Leterme, while keeping his own competence regarding Ports. He has been serving a second term as head of the Flemish government since the regional elections of 7 June 2009, with the additional competences of Institutional Affairs, Economy, Agriculture and Sea Fisheries.

Patrick Janssens is a Belgian politician, born on 19 September 1956. He is a member of the SP.a and currently mayor of the port city Antwerp.

He studied "Political and Social Sciences" and "Applied Economic Sciences" (both Masters) at the University of Antwerp and Statistics at the London School of Economics. From 1979 to 1985 he was an assistant in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Antwerp, first of Jan Vranken (with whom he wrote the first National Report on Poverty in Belgium, witin the frame of the First European Anti-Poverty Programme) and then of Herman Deleeck.

From 1985 to 1989 he ran a market research agency (Dimarso) after which he undertook several positions at the marketing agency VVL/BBDO until 1999.

In 1999 he was appointed president of the Socialist Party. He resigned as president to become mayor of Antwerp in 2003. In the general election held the same year, Janssens was elected to the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives but he left the Chamber one year later when the 2004 regional elections saw Janssens becoming a member of the Flemish Parliament. In the municipal elections of 2006 Janssens was overwhelmingly elected to another term as mayor.