Vice Prime minister is Country’s Top Female Political leader

Laurette Onkelinx Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health

Laurette Onkelinx, Belgium’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health, has had a long and illustrious public-sector career.

After practicing as an attorney, she entered the government at the age of 30 and served as Minister of Public Health and the Environment, Minister-President of the French Community, Minister of Labor, President of Beliris (the cooperation agreement between Brussels and the federal government), and Minister of Justice before assuming her current post.

Onkelinx, born in 1958, is considered to be the most powerful woman in Belgian politics and is viewed as a potential successor to the socialist party’s chairperson Elio Di Rupo. In her role as Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health, she has launched ambitious public-health and social-services programs, including an initiative focused on cancer prevention and treatment.

As Vice Prime Minister, Onkelinx acts as a liaison between the socialist party and the federal government; she has said that her role is to defend her party’s values in discussions with the federal government and to explain the government’s point of view to her party with the goal of reaching productive compromises.

When asked recently about the future of the socialist party, Onkelinx answered, “Now 120 years old, socialism is still at its beginnings. It has brought hope and struggled for equality. It has transformed society’s economic and social structures, made our culture more democratic, and encouraged public service. Its ethnic initiatives are intimately linked with the beautiful word, ‘freedom’.”

Thrombogenics

“We focus on innovative medicines.”

Patrik De Haes CEO

Thrombogenics, with a staff of only around 60, is rated one of Belgium’s leading bio-pharmaceutical enterprises in market capitalization and has a high-potential drug product – Microplasmin – currently in Phase III development, an eye medication it hopes to market globally.

“We focus on innovative medicines, typically for diseases in which there is no or little treatment. We live on science, and collaborate with universities as much as possible,” explains Patrik De Haes, CEO. De Haes sees Belgium as an ideal business base. “Belgium has one of the world’s lowest taxes on royalties,” he says.

De Haes concludes, “Thrombogenics aims to be a bio-tech company that not only clears FDA and European regulatory hurdles, but also brings microplas-min to the market itself. My message is, ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet!’ We are a Belgium-based bio-pharmaceuticals company with global ambitions.”