Mr. Dirk van der Maelen MP

Mr. Dirk van der Maelen MP
Country: 
Belgium
Parliament: 
Belgian House of Representatives (Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers, Chambre des Représentants)
Party: 
Different Socialist Party
Last Election: 
2014
Upcoming Election: 
2018
Website: 
Dirk van der Maelen
Other current affiliations: 

Member of the city council of Geeraardsbergen since 1979,

Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2007.

Previous other affiliations: 
  • Member of the following parliamentary committees (2010-2014)
    • Foreign Affairs and International Relations
    • Finances and Budget
    • Defense
  • Fraction leader of the sp.a (1999-2007)
Interested in: 
Global Security Challenges
Non-proliferation
Regions of interest: 
Europe (EU)
Bio: 

Dirk Van der Maelen is a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of the Belgian Federal Parliament. He is a strong advocate of fairer taxation laws and international justice. Mr. Van der Maelen was fist elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1989. From 1999 to 2007 he was the leader of the SPA's fraction there. Since October 2007, Mr Van Der Maelen has been the Vice Chairman of the SPA.

Mr. Van der Maelen has always been deeply involved in security issues, international affairs and financing.He was once heralded the Best Member of the Parliament by the Belgian daily newspaper "De Morgen". He's been a strong advocate of the ban on landmines, cluster bombs and cluster munition and thanks to his proposal, Belgium has become the first country to issue a ban on the use, transportation, export, stockpiling, trade and production of cluster munitions. Mr. Van der Maelen also strongly condemns the military operation in Afghanistan and advocates for the withdrawal of all Belgian troops from the country.