Belgium’s Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès said the fact that her mother is Jewish ‘’is an important element’’ in her life ‘’but it is not the sole.’’
‘’It is part of important elements that are building myself. One has not only one identity,’’ she added in an interview with Belgian daily La Libre.
Wilmès’s mother is an Ashkenazi Jew who lost several relatives in the Holocaust.
45-year-old Sophie Wilmès is Belgium’s first female Prime Minister in its 189-year history. A former Budget Minister, she succeeded Prime Minister Charles Michel after he was named President of the European Council in 2019. Both belong to the liberal center-right MR Party.
She is leading a minority government which was granted special powers to deal with the coronavirus crisis. The government powers expired on 27 June and negotiations are ongoing to form a new federal government. Belgium has a world record of days without a ‘’full office government.”