Born on 9 April 1978 in Mons, Maxime PREVOT has lived in Namur since he was a child. He is the proud father of Valentine (18) and has been married since August 2018 to Nathalie LUSSON, a company auditor and mother of two children, Emilien (20) and Lucie (18).
Studies
Master's degree in Political Science (Public Affairs) at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) and Master's degree in Law and management of new information and communication technologies at the University of Namur (UNamur).
Political career
After graduating, he began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and then IBM. As a consultant on the organisational performance of public institutions, he has been involved in a number of projects including the evaluation of public policies for the European Commission, the federal government and the regional government.
In 2004, he joined the team of the cdH (centrist party) under the presidency of Joëlle MILQUET and became, at the age of 26, the political director of the humanist party.
Following the 2006 municipal elections, Maxime PREVOT became Deputy Mayor for Social Cohesion, Housing and Sport for the City of Namur. He continued his commitment and was elected Federal MP in the June 2007 legislative elections and then Walloon MP in June 2009 for the Namur Arrondissement. He was then appointed Chairman of the cdH parliamentary group in the Walloon Parliament. Re-elected as a federal MP in 2010, he decided to relinquish this mandate to continue his commitment to the Walloon Parliament.
On 5 March 2012, Maxime PREVOT took over from Jacques ETIENNE and became the 19th and youngest Mayor of the City of Namur. A few months later, Maxime PREVOT stood as head of list in the municipal elections in Namur. He obtained 13,549 preference votes, a historic result, and continued his mandate as Mayor of Namur. His responsibilities include Culture, Town Planning and Finance.
Maxime PREVOT headed the regional list in the May 2014 elections, obtaining almost 22,000 votes in favour and becoming a Walloon MP for a second term. On 13 June 2014, he was appointed President of the Walloon Parliament for a month, pending the formation of the new Government.
After negotiating the Walloon regional agreement with the Wallonia-Brussels Federation alongside cdH President Benoît LUTGEN, he was appointed Vice-President of the Walloon Government and Minister for Public Works, Health, Social Action and Heritage on 22 July 2014. Three years later, on 28 July 2017, he chose to resign from his ministerial duties to devote himself fully to his city and once again become Mayor of Namur.
Maxime PREVOT was re-elected Mayor of Namur following the poll on 14 October 2018, with 12,850 votes in favour, the second historic result since the merger of the communes in 1977. He will then manage the City of Namur once again with a tripartite cdH - Ecolo - MR.
At the end of January 2019, Maxime PREVOT was elected National Chairman of his political party (cdH) following the resignation of Benoît LUTGEN. Following the (predictable) electoral defeat in the May 2019 general elections, he decided to carry out a major overhaul of his party and to create a more participative political and civic movement that would dare to break the taboos inherited from the Christian Democrat roots of the cdH.
On 12 March 2022, after more than two years of renewal, the cdH became Les Engagés. At the same time, Maxime Prévot was re-elected President. Thanks to the many changes made to the party's software, which was designed to produce a founding manifesto much more in tune with the aspirations of citizens and the challenges of this century, many prominent figures from civil society decided to join the new Movement.
In the regional and federal elections of 9 June 2024, led by Maxime PREVOT, Les Engagés pulled off a remarkable comeback, achieving a result unseen in 30 years! With almost 22% of the vote in the 2024 legislative elections, compared with 11% in the 2019 elections, he doubled the number of centrist MPs.
As leader of the list in the Chamber, he obtained a personal record of 47,359 votes (the second highest result in % in the whole country). He then led the regional negotiations and enabled the Engagés to join the Walloon Government and the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (WBF) with 4 Ministers, including the Minister-President of the WBF.
As part of the federal negotiations, following the resignation of the Government Formateur, Maxime PREVOT was appointed Royal Mediator by King Philippe on 23 August 2024. In just ten days, he brought his royal mission to a successful conclusion and enabled the party Presidents to return to the negotiating table.
In the municipal elections of 13 October 2024, Maxime PREVOT succeeded in establishing his movement as the 2nd largest political force in the French-speaking world. Personally, he won a plebiscite from Namur voters and exceeded the 15,000 preference votes (15,682). Les Engagés are now one seat away from an absolute majority in the Walloon capital. Maxime Prévot therefore retains his position as Mayor of the City of Namur and renews an alliance with the MR (liberals) alone.
After 8 months of negotiations following the legislative elections of 9 June 2024, a government agreement was signed on 31 January 2025, enabling the new federal government to be formed, in which Les Engagés won three ministers out of the seven posts allocated to the french-speaking parties. Maxime Prévot then relinquished the Presidency of Les Engagés (statutory incompatibility) and became Belgium's new Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation on 3 February 2025. He also retains the title of Mayor of the City of Namur, a position he delegates to Charlotte Bazelaire for the duration of his ministerial term.
Today, the Engagés include 7 ministers, 41 members of parliament and 70 mayors.