Pascal Smet

I have spent the last 20 years working for a different Brussels. A Brussels with pleasant public spaces and more space for people and cyclists.

Career

When I was 18, I developed a taste for politics: during the missile crisis, I joined the protest against the storage of American nuclear missiles in Europe.

Ambition for Brussels

First, Pascal was an SP councillor in Beveren for a while and a provincial councillor in East Flanders. In the early nineties, he moved to Brussels and worked at the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees.

In 2003, he went back into active politics as Brussels State Secretary for Mobility. Above all, Brussels needed to show more ambition. A year later, he became Minister of Mobility and Public Works in the Brussels government. In 2009, the Brussels sp.a ended up in the opposition and Pascal became Minister for Education, Youth, Equal Opportunities and Brussels Affairs in the Flemish government.”

Dreams for Brussels

In the next legislature, from 2014 to 2019, he served as Minister of Mobility and Public Works. He shaped his dream of introducing sustainable urban development by reorganising public space and creating more space for better public transport, cyclists and pedestrians.

In 2019, Pascal became State Secretary of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Urbanism and Heritage, European and International Relations, Foreign Trade and Firefighting and Emergency medical Assistance.

His ambition: To give Brussels a strong personality and put it on the international map as the cosmopolitan, creative and dynamic metropolis it is.

What if living in Brussels were affordable for everyone?

Renting and buying is far too expensive in Brussels. Too many people sleep on the streets or cannot find decent housing. Even those professionals who make Brussels run, like teachers, nurses, catering workers, ... are being pushed out of the city. We think that everyone who wants to live in Brussels should be able to, in an affordable way. We want to tackle this together.

Read our proposals here.