Roland Duchâtelet
Senator
In office
28 June 2007 (2007-06-28) – June 2010
Personal details
Born (1946-11-14) 14 November 1946
Merksem, Antwerp, Belgium
Political partyOpen VLD
Alma materKatholieke Universiteit Leuven

Roland Duchâtelet (French: [dyʃɑtlɛ]; born 14 November 1946) is a Belgian businessman and politician. He is the owner of football club Újpest.[1] He is the founder of the social-liberal political party Vivant in Belgium.

Business

In 1990, he became involved in micro-electronics. He founded several multinational corporations, of which semi-conductor producer Melexis is the best known.[2] Other corporations include X-Fab,[3] which also produces semi-conductors, Epiq,[4] which produces electronic systems, the online-television channel TVLokaal.com, and the holding company Elex. Through his businesses Duchâtelet became a multimillionaire.[5]

Duchâtelet is the main shareholder of two football clubs: FC Carl Zeiss Jena (Germany, D4), and Újpest FC (Hungary, D1). He previously owned Standard Liège which he sold in early 2015, Sint-Truidense, which he sold in 2017, AD Alcorcón, which he sold in 2019, and Charlton Athletic, which he sold in 2020.[6] He retained ownership of Charlton Athletic's stadium, The Valley, and training ground.[7]

In March 2016, Roland Duchâtelet made headlines after a statement appeared on the Charlton Athletic website[8] in which some of the club's fans were accused of wanting the club to fail. In the aftermath of this statement, Charlton's newly appointed head of communications resigned from her position.[9] The Championship side was then relegated to League One on 19 April 2016. His ownership was met with widespread protests from Charlton supporters,[10][11] who formed the Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet (CARD) and Women Against the Regime (WAR).[12] Similar protests from supporters of Standard Liège resulted in Duchâtelet selling the Belgian side.[13]

Politics

In 1993, Duchâtelet wrote a book NV België, verslag aan de aandeelhouders (Joint stock company Belgium, a report to the shareholders), published in early 1994. In his book, he pleaded for economic and political transparency. He emphasized the necessity of sustainable development in a globalized world economy. He also proposed to lower Belgium's public expenditure by 30%. A new political party BANAAN ("Beter Alternatieven Nastreven Als Apathisch Nietsdoen", or "Better seeking for alternatives than doing nothing in apathy") used this book as its political program. This party was committed to a basic income and a green tax shift. After the 1995 elections in which BANAAN obtained 1% of the votes, Duchâtelet founded the Vivant party/political movement which then entered in federal, regional and communal elections. In 1999, Vivant obtained 2,1% of the national votes. Duchâtelet is party chair and has been a candidate in several elections.

In the movie La vie politique des Belges (2002) by Jan Bucquoy, Duchâtelet is depicted in Vivant's 1999 election campaign.

In 2004 Vivant entered a political alliance with the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) and Duchâtelet published his second book De weg naar meer netto binnenlands geluk (The road to more net domestic happiness).

In 2007 his party merged with the VLD,[14] which entered in the next elections as Open VLD.[15] He was elected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2007.[16]

Bibliography

  • R. Duchâtelet, NV België, verslag aan de aandeelhouders (Joint stock company Belgium, a report to the shareholders), 1994
  • R. Duchâtelet, De weg naar meer netto binnenlands geluk (The road to more net domestic happiness), 2004

See also

  • The Political Life of the Belgians: Tart/Vivant

References

  1. ↑ "Official statement AD Alcorcon Jan. 1, 2014". Archived from the original on 10 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Melexis: Semiconductor Sensor Solutions". www.melexis.com.
  3. ↑ "X-Fab.com". Archived from the original on 10 February 2007.
  4. ↑ "Epiq.com". Archived from the original on 16 February 2007.
  5. ↑ "The Duchatelet family's international football empire | Hungarian Football". 24 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "East Street Investments complete takeover of Charlton Athletic". Charlton Athletic. 2 January 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  7. ↑ Cawley, Richard (28 July 2023). "Global Football Partners spokesman expecting talks with Duchatelet over Valley and Sparrows Lane rental agreement". South London Press. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  8. ↑ "Statement". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016. retrieved 18 March 2016
  9. ↑ "Charlton's head of comms quits following Duchatelet's statement". 18 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "Charlton Athletic fans protest against owners in England and Belgium". BBC Sport. 27 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "Angry fans forced this football match to be stopped when everyone started throwing beach balls". Independent.co.uk. 24 April 2016.
  12. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/CharltonCARD/
  13. ↑ Hall, Joe (24 June 2015). "Charlton owner Duchatelet sells Standard Liege".
  14. ↑ GVA.be Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 11 February 2006
  15. ↑ GVA.be Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine 11 February 2006
  16. ↑ "Belgische Senaat" (in Dutch). Belgian Senate. Retrieved 10 June 2009.

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