Sarah Schlitz

Sarah Schlitz (born 7 December 1986, in Liège) is a Belgian politician from Ecolo. She was Belgian Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunity and Diversity in the government of the prime minister Alexander De Croo.[1]

Sarah Schlitz
Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity
In office
1 October 2020 – 26 April 2023
MonarchPhilippe
Prime MinisterAlexander De Croo
Succeeded byMarie-Colline Leroy
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
In office
October 2018 – October 2020
Personal details
Born (1986-12-07) 7 December 1986
Liège, Belgium
Political partyEcolo
Alma materUniversity of Liège
Occupationpolitician

Education and early life

Sarah Schlitz was born into a family with a political background and is the granddaughter of the former mayor of Liège, Henri Schlitz.[2] She studied at the University of Liège and graduated with a Master of Science in Political Science, and supplementary masters in Urban Studies and Spatial Development.[3]

Political career

In Liège, Sarah Schlitz has been involved in grassroots community organizing focusing on ecological, social and feminist politics.[2] She chose to join Ecolo, rather than the Socialist Party of which her grandfather was a member.[2] Between 2015 and 2018, she was campaign coordinator at the ecological association Inter-Environnement Wallonie, and from 2016 to 2018 she was co-chair of the Coalition Climat.[4]

In October 2012, she was elected to the city council of Liège as part of Ecolo.[5] In October 2018, she was reelected as a member of the citizen's movement Vert Ardent.[5] She resigned from the city council in September 2019 in order to focus on her work as a member of the federal Parliament.[6]

In the 2014 general election, she came second with 2.935 votes as a substitute candidate for Ecolo in the Liege constituency.[7] In October 2018, she succeeded Muriel Gerkens, who resigned from parliament.[8]

In the 2019 parliamentary election, she was elected to the Belgian Federal Parliament with 17.728 votes as Ecolo's chief candidate for the constituency of Liège.[9]

Since 1 October 2020, she has been the State Secretary for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity in the De Croo government.[10]

She resigned from her position as state secretary due to use of personal logo in governmental projects.[1]

Controversies

In 2021, Schlitz was criticized for choosing Ihsane Haouach to be the government commissioner at the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men, Partner in the coalition Reformist Movement said that Haouach's hijab went against the government's neutrality.[11] Haouach resigned after learning that State Security had connected her to the Muslim Brotherhood.[12] In late 2021, Schlitz participated in a walk orga, where males participants were not permitted, and she was questioned harshly about it in parliament.[11]

In April 2023 she became the centre of a scandal when it was made known that her personal logo had been added to projects that had been funded by her as state secretary,[13] which is illegal in Belgium. She claimed that she had not asked for this and that the projects had acted on their own initiative, but leaked emails later showed that she had explicitly requested this herself, after which the opposition called for her resignation.[14]To make matters worse, her cabinet employee shared a message on social media that linked nationalist party N-VA to Nazism.[15]

Two days later, she resigned to prevent a debate in the chamber of representatives.[16] She was replaced by Marie-Colline Leroy.[17]

References
  1. Taylor, Lukas. "Belgian Gender Equality Secretary announces resignation". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  2. Libre.be, La (2019-09-23). "Sarah Schlitz: une passion au service d'une cause". La Libre Belgique (in French). Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  3. "A propos". Sarah Schlitz (in French). Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  4. julie (2016-06-23). "Toute première présidence féminine pour la Coalition Climat". Coalition Climat (in French). Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  5. "Sarah Schlitz". Régionale Ecolo Bruxelles (in French). Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  6. "Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) dit au revoir à Liège !". DH Les Sports + (in French). 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  7. "Wahl 2014 - Kammer - Vorzugsstimmen Wahlkreis Lüttich -". wahlen2014.belgium.be. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  8. "Sarah Schlitz remplace officiellement Muriel Gerkens !". DH Les Sports + (in French). 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  9. "Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) aux élections 2019 : score, résultats et voix de préférence". sudinfo.be (in French). 2019-05-26. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  10. "New federal ministers and state secretaries take oath of office". The Bulletin. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  11. ""De situatie is onhoudbaar": Staatssecretaris Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) neemt ontslag na heisa over gebruik persoonlijk logo". vrtnws.be (in Dutch). 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  12. "Headscarf debate sparked in Belgium after civil servant's resignation". euronews. 2021-07-12. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  13. Scheirlinckx, Nathan (2023-04-24). "Sarah Schlitz et l'affaire du logo personnel : maladresse, faute grave ou amateurisme ?". Le Vif (in French). Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  14. "Staatssecretaris Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) krijgt voorwaardelijke steun en moet voorlopig niet opstappen na ophef over persoonlijk logo" (in Dutch). 2023-04-25.
  15. NWS, VRT (2023-04-26). ""De situatie is onhoudbaar": Staatssecretaris Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) neemt ontslag na heisa over gebruik persoonlijk logo". vrtnws.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  16. ""De situatie is onhoudbaar": Staatssecretaris Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) neemt ontslag na heisa over gebruik persoonlijk logo" (in Dutch). 2023-04-26.
  17. "Qui est Marie-Colline Leroy, nouveau visage féminin du gouvernement fédéral ?". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-17.

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