A miner’s daughter and former lawyer, Zuhal Demir was elected as Member of the Belgian House of Representatives in 2010 for the New-Flemish Alliance (N-VA), and was re-elected in 2014. She became the Federal State Secretary for Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunities, Persons with Disabilities, Metropolitan and Science Policy from 2017 to 2018. In 2019, she was re-elected to the Belgian House of Representatives. Two months later, she became the current Flemish Minister of Environment, Energy, Justice and Enforcement and Tourism. Since day one, she has been fully committed to scaling up the important fight against asbestos in schools, homes, public buildings and landfills, to make Flanders asbestos-safe by 2040.
