About Alexander De croo
Alexander De Croo, who served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2020 to 2025, assumed the role of Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 2 December 2025. In his first interviews in the role, De Croo stated that official development assistance has declined by approximately one-third in recent years and that core unearmarked funding for UNDP is under pressure. He said his commitment is to use public funding where it has the most impact and to better leverage private finance, noting that for every dollar invested in SDG-related topics the return can reach up to $60. De Croo also described UNDP as the "backbone" of the UN's development pillar, working on systemic change in 170 countries.
In his final months as Prime Minister, De Croo was a vocal participant in debates on European security and transatlantic relations. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026, he argued that Europe has become "totally dependent on technology that we do not own and do not control" and said that "being a happy vessel is one thing; being a miserable slave is something else." He also stated that Russia is "no longer a world power" but a "regional power with quite some weaknesses," and called for Europe to "grow stronger" and "be more independent" to be a better partner to the United States. De Croo advocated for setting a clear date for Ukraine's EU membership as a political ambition, and supported continued sanctions on Russia and Belarus. He also stated that Russia had intervened in Romania's elections and that such interference should be called out.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Alexander De croo's recent appearances.
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Alexander De Croo0:00
This is a session of the European Commission. Sitting in front of you, I feel that most of you don't look to the right, but you've understood that actually, with the carpet in front of him, an audience that... Unfortunately, email dominates it. You know what you think is one of the key topics related to the digital agenda in Belgium. To make clear, this is something for everyone. It's about the people, the war on technology, which ensures that the British are also trying to open it up for everyone. We've understood that in the next years, a percentage of all jobs in Europe will require some kind of digital skill. I see the situation in Belgium: of the workforce, approximately sixty percent have some kind of digital skill, but sixty percent still need an effort to make sure that everyone has a minimum of digital skills. This is a shared responsibility, extreme and tough knowledge of what to do. The British are open for everyone. Maybe one point related to what you're doing: bringing politics and societal discussion very close to people, making it very easy to blame. It shows how technology can help bring more freedom. I think if you look at the role of the internet in the last 20 years, we've seen more freedom: more freedom to shop whatever I want, to be limited in which... the idea is much more free, much more free in what to watch. We used to be limited to what TV was showing, and now we have many possibilities. But freedom of speech is also about being able to express ourselves to a very broad audience. What we want to make sure is that technologies and the internet remain something that makes people free, and not the opposite. I think we've seen some things showing that technology and the internet can be used to reduce the freedom of people. My vision is that in the last twenty years, it has been such a force for freedom, it should remain that way. This is Europe's role as well. I think in bringing politics and societal discussion closer to people, it mixes with freedom. The trend started ten years ago, so we must continue the good work, and we will try to do that. I think first of all, to congratulate people who are passionate about building technology and connecting society and politics. The first part is that technology has made so much more free: free in freedom of expression and freedom of shopping what you want, but also in being able to have political discussions. This is something that brings people closer to politics and makes it tangible. The freedom in discussion and being part of our society, I think that is what we need to become.
