Annemie Turtelboom graduated from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1993 with an MA in economics, having previously obtained a Teaching Certificate from the Guardini Institute in Antwerp in 1988.

[2][3] Turtelboom started her political life as a member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party's youth wing, rising to the position of vice-chair.

[6] During her time in the office, she regularised the status of asylum seeker families who had school-going children, and been in Belgium for at least five years.

At the outset of her term, she set out three priorities: quicker and more efficient punishment of crimes; reform of the judicial districts, streamlining them by making them fewer and larger, and digitalisation of the system's databases and processes.

[20] She also tightened up the rules for the acquisition of Belgian passports, requiring that applicants be capable of speaking one of the country's official languages (French, Dutch or German) and have been resident in Belgium for five years.

[23] From 25 July 2014, Turtelboom took up the position of vice minister-president and Flemish minister of Finance, Budget and Energy in the Bourgeois Government (2014-2019).

[25] On 29 April 2016, she resigned from her function as minister in the Flemish government,[26] but retained her position as a member of parliament.