Only then did electoral politics beckon, and in 1989 she was elected to the Brussels parliament as a candidate-successor, finally taking the seat vacated by Marie- Jeanne Schoenmaekers in 1992 – hence last week’s anniversary.
Grouwels became a secretary of state in the Brussels government in 2004, with responsibility for the administration, equal opportunities and the port. She also handled health and welfare within the Flemish community commission. With the change of coalition at the 2009 elections, in which Pascal Smet lost his post in Brussels but took up one in the Flemish government, Grouwels was promoted to minister, with the portfolios public works, mobility, informatics and the port, all of which have managed to keep her in the public eye, though not always in a good way. The most recent problems involved her plan to make Brussels taxis adopt a livery against the opposition of the drivers themselves; and her support for the renovation of the Havenlaan, which runs alongside the canal in Brussels, where local people and environmentalists protested the removal of old cobblestones and the felling of 150 or so plane trees. That protest went all the way to the courts, and the work has still to begin.
“People these days are often cynical with regard to politics, and some in politics are also cynical,” Grouwels wrote on her blog. “But if I look back on the last 20 years I see no reason to be cynical. Of course, not everything is sunshine and roses in politics, but in what other sector is it? More than anything I’m happy and grateful that I was given the time, the opportunity and the space I had to make a contribution.”
Flanders Today is a 
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