Charles Michel (French: ; born 21 December 1975) is the current Prime Minister of Belgium. He is the son of Louis Michel, also a prominent politician. Charles Michel has been the Chairman of the francophone liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR) since February 2011. Michel is the youngest Prime Minister in Belgian history.
Early career
Michel started his political career aged 16 when he joined the Young Liberals of Jodoigne (Jeunes Réformateurs Libéraux de Jodoigne); his father Louis Michel was mayor of Jodoigne since 1983. In 1994, at the age of 18, Charles Michel was elected provincial councillor in Walloon Brabant.
He graduated in law at the Université libre de Bruxelles and the University of Amsterdam in 1998, after which he became lawyer at the Brussels Bar.
Political career
Michel has been elected to the federal Chamber of Representatives since 1999, representing Walloon Brabant, a stronghold of the liberal MR.
In 2000, he became Minister of Home Affairs in the Walloon Government. Aged 25, he became the youngest minister in Belgium's history.[1]
At the local level, he was elected city councillor in Wavre in 2000. In 2006, he became mayor of the city.
In December 2007, Michel became the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation in the Verhofstadt III Government and subsequently in the Leterme I, Van Rompuy I and Leterme II governments.[2]
In 2009, he declared himself to be shocked by statements of Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms promoted AIDS, calling the statements "astounding, scandalous and even irresponsible."[3]
After the June 2009 regional elections, Michel was part of a group demanding the MR chairman Didier Reynders to step down. After the party suffered further losses in the June 2010 federal elections, Reynders eventually stepped down. Charles Michel then announced his candidacy for chairman of MR. In January 2011 he was elected Chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur, for which he resigned as Minister for Development Cooperation. Charles Michel and Didier Reynders are longtime rivals within their party.[4]
Prime Minister of Belgium
After the 2014 federal elections, Michel became co-formateur in the 2014 Belgian government formation. When CD&V chose the position of European Commissioner for Marianne Thyssen over the position of Prime Minister for Kris Peeters, it became clear that Michel would become the next government leader. When on October 7, 2014 an overall agreement was reached between four parties to form a new government, Michel was formally proposed to lead the Michel Government with Kris Peeters as Deputy Prime Minister. Michel is the youngest Belgian cabinet leader since 1841 and the youngest ever with the title of Prime Minister of Belgium. He is only the second Francophone liberal to become Prime Minister, the other being Paul-Émile Janson.[5][6] He is the first Francophone Prime Minister to succeed another Francophone Prime Minister (Elio Di Rupo) in almost 50 years, when Pierre Harmel was succeeded by Paul Vanden Boeynants.
References
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^ "Charles Michel officiellement candidat à la présidence du MR". Le Vif. 13 December 2010.
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^ "20 March 2008 – Royal Orders. Government – Dismissals – Appointments" (in Dutch/French). The
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^ "Les déclarations du pape sur le préservatif sous le feu du parlement". 7sur7.be.
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^ "Michel vs. Reynders: waarom de MR elke keer wat anders zegt". De Morgen. 27 June 2014.
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^ http://www.hbvl.be/cnt/dmf20141008_01309668/dit-waren-de-jongste-en-de-oudste-eerste-ministers-van-ons-land
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^ http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20141007_01308323
External links
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