Bart Albert Liliane De Wever (born December 21, 1970, in Mortsel) is a Belgian Flemish nationalist politician. He has been the party leader of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) since 2004 and the mayor of Antwerp since January 1, 2013. Since February 3, 2025, he has served as the Prime Minister of Belgium in the De Wever government.

Bart De Wever comes from a Flemish nationalist family. His grandfather was a member of the Flemish nationalist collaborationist party VNV. Until 1980, he lived in Kontich-Kazerne, where his mother, Irene Torfs, ran a grocery store. In 1980, the family moved to Mortsel. During his secondary school years, he attended Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Lourdescollege in Edegem and was involved with the VNJ (Flemish National Youth), where his father, Henri 'Rik' De Wever, a railway worker, held a significant administrative position.

De Wever initially studied law at the University of Antwerp for two years but dropped out and then switched to studying history at the University of Leuven. He earned a degree in history from KU Leuven and UFSIA in 1995 and another degree in history from KU Leuven in 1996. As a student, Bart De Wever was active in the LVSV (Catholic Student Union), KVHV Antwerp, and KVHV Leuven. He also served as editor-in-chief of Tegenstroom and Ons Leven. De Wever worked for a time as a research assistant at KU Leuven and contributed to the New Encyclopedia of the Flemish Movement. As a PhD candidate, he wrote an article about the controversial political figure Joris Van Severen for the yearbook of the Joris Van Severen Foundation, published in 2001. He had started a dissertation on post-war Flemish nationalist party formation at KU Leuven but decided in 2002 to dedicate himself fully to politics.

De Wever is married to a Dutch woman, and together they have four children. His older brother, Bruno De Wever, who is ten years his senior, is also a historian and teaches at Ghent University. In October 2017, De Wever's mother was sworn in as a councilor for N-VA in the Deurne district council at the age of 78.

Establishment of N-VA and election as party chairman Thanks to his father Henri 'Rik' De Wever, a railway worker who was a militant of the paramilitary Flemish Militante Order after the Second World War, De Wever became a member of the Volksunie (VU) at a very young age. He joined this party in October 1994 participated in the municipal elections in Antwerp in 1994 and was on the Antwerp 94 cartel list of CVP and VU. 

He was not elected, but served briefly on the Berchem district council from 1996 to 1997. From January 2000, De Wever was a member of the party board of the Volksunie.

From 1999 onwards, De Wever was affiliated with the Oranjehof group, which, led by Geert Bourgeois, opposed the, in their view, too progressive party line of the Volksunie under the chairmanship of Bert Anciaux. After the split of the Volksunie, this Oranjehof group would be the basis for the founding of the N-VA in October 2001. De Wever wrote the party program that was adopted at the first general members' congress of the party in March 2002, which was chaired by himself. , and became a member of the party board, the executive board and the party council. From October 2003, De Wever was vice-chairman of the party together with Frieda Brepoels, a position in which he succeeded Eric Defoort.

In the municipal elections of October 2018, the N-VA held on to its 23 seats in Antwerp, with Bart De Wever, the outgoing mayor, receiving 76,702 preferential votes. Although the party could have continued its centre-right majority with CD&V and Open Vld, it was left with just one seat remaining. As a result, De Wever formed a 'Burgundian coalition' with N-VA, Open Vld, and sp.a, and was reappointed as mayor of the city for a second term in January 2019.

Elections in 2024 In the elections of June 9, 2024, De Wever was federal party leader for the N-VA and as such was re-elected to the Chamber of Representatives, with a score of 255,446 preference votes. After the federal and regional elections, N-VA unexpectedly remained the largest party in Flanders, after Vlaams Belang had been in the lead in the polls for a long time. 

Before the elections, De Wever, who was explicitly a candidate for prime minister, had ruled out a coalition with the party in order to prioritize a community deal with the PS and the formation of a socio-economic recovery government to protect Flemish prosperity, which according to him, the outgoing Vivaldi government had done too little.Not only did De Wever, as an informateur, again have the right of initiative to form the Flemish government, but as a federal informateur he was also allowed to initiate the formation at that level. After nine days, De Wever handed over leadership of the Flemish negotiations to his party colleague Matthias Diependaele, who eventually formed a government with CD&V and Vooruit, after which he fully focused on the federal formation.

 Due to the defeat of the PS in the federal elections and its choice for the opposition, there was no longer any question of a major community deal and De Wever focused on forming a socio-economic recovery government with CD&V and Vooruit on the Flemish side and MR and Les Engagés on the French-speaking side. After De Wever submitted an informateur memorandum to his intended coalition partners, he was promoted to preformateur on June 26, 2024. On July 10, 2024, King Filip appointed De Wever as formateur with the task of forming a federal government.

2013: Sabino Arana Prize named after the Basque Sabino Arana

2023: Pim Fortuyn Prize

IMDB: Bart de Wever