Marie-Christine Marghem has served for some 20 years in municipal politics and since 2003 a member of the Belgian parliament. A trained lawyer, Marghem’s work in politics stems from a keen drive to understand others and a desire for change, the interests at stake and the general interest, as well as the ideal of justice. A champion of gender equality, she first served as a municipal councillor of Tournai since 1994, and an Alderman of Finance for Tournai from 2000 to 2006. In the Belgian parliament, she has been a member of the Justice, Finance and Institutional Reform Committees and chaired the Finance and Budget Committee. She began to serve in 2012 First Alderman in Tournai, in charge of Spatial Planning and Urban Planning as well as the Cathedral file. In 2014, she served as Federal Minister of Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development of the Belgian Federal Government of Prime Minister Charles Michel. She founded here law practice in 1987. She holds a law degree from the University of Liège and a 3rd degree in Law from KU Leuven. She was born in 1963.