The Samuel Cogolati/Marie Lecocq duo and the Marie-Colline Leroy/Gilles Vanden Burre tandem will compete for the co-presidency of Ecolo on July 13. A heavy task awaits the new team. It will have to rebuild the party after its electoral defeat on June 9 and will have little time to do so since a deadline awaits it on October 13: the municipal and provincial elections.
As required by Ecolo’s statutes, each duo must include both a man and a woman. One of the two must be from Wallonia and the other from Brussels.
Samuel Cogolati and Marie Lecocq are figures of the young generation of French-speaking Greens. The first, aged 35 and originally from Huy, was a member of the Chamber between 2019 and 2024. This close friend of Jean-Michel Javaux quickly distinguished himself in parliament, particularly in the fight in favour of the Uighur minority in China, which earned him a place on a list of political figures sanctioned by Beijing.
The second, aged 32, is a Brussels MP, co-president of the Brussels regional Ecolo and one of the few Green MPs to have retained her mandate after the storm of 9 June. She has also been involved in issues of democracy as well as the rights of women and minorities.
The other duo embodies the experience more. Aged 40, Marie-Colline Leroy was Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities in the outgoing federal government. This former Hennuyère teacher took over the position in a difficult context marked by the resignation of Sarah Schlitz and brought to fruition before the elections files in the field of women’s rights dear to the Greens.
At 46 years old Gilles Vanden Burre has two parliamentary mandates to his credit, after having worked in the business world. The Ixellois was group leader under the past legislature, a delicate position when a party sits in the majority.
The candidates will take over from Jean-Marc Nollet and Rajae Maouane, who announced their resignation the day after the elections.
With the departure of Mr. Nollet, a page in the political history of the Greens is turning after 25 years spent in positions of responsibility: twice minister, group leader and co-president.
The candidates will tour the party’s regional elections before a general meeting in Louvain-la-Neuve on July 13.
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