Louis Michel

Infobox_Officeholder | name =Louis Michel

---

caption = Michel at the Central African Republic Development Partner Round Table in Brussels
order =European Commissioner for Development & Humanitarian Aid
term_start =July, 2004
term_end =
predecessor =Poul Nielson
successor =Incumbent
order2 =European Commissioner for Science and Research
term_start2 =13 September, 1999
term_end2 =July, 2004
predecessor2 =Philippe Busquin
successor2 =Stavros Dimas
birth_date =birth date and age|1947|09|02
birth_place =
profession =politician
party =Reformist Movement (ELDR)|

Louis H.O.Ch. Michel (born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. A prominent member of the French-speaking liberal party, the Mouvement Réformateur, he was Belgium's foreign minister until July 2004.

Early professional career

From 1968 to 1978, before dedicating his life to his political career, Louis Michel taught English, Dutch and German in the Provincial School of Jodoigne, a rural town 25 miles from Brussels.

Political career

From 1967 to 1977, he was chairman of the "Young Liberals" in the district of Nivelles. Then he became alderman in Jodoigne from 1977 to 1983, "secretary-general" of the Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL) political party from 1980 to 1982 and chairman of the PRL from 1982 to 1990 and from 1995 to 1999.

He was a member of the Belgian federal parliament from 1978 to 2004, first as a representative (1978-1999) and then as a senator (1999-2004).

He was the Belgian foreign minister and Vice Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004, until in July 2004, the Verhofstadt government appointed Michel as its candidate for the Belgian seat on the European Commission led by José Manuel Durão Barroso, to replace former commissioner Philippe Busquin. He was nominated on August 12, 2004 to become EU commissioner starting in November 2004.

As part of a political agreement, Busquin resigned early in September 2004 to give Louis Michel an early opportunity to serve on the European Commission. He completed Busquin's term as the European Commissioner for Science and Research and now serves as the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Development.

He is also the mayor of the municipality of Jodoigne in Walloon Brabant and has been since 1983.

Louis Michel has withdrawn himself from the EU between the 12th May and the 10th June 2007 to take care of his political party because of the elections of 10th June 2007 [http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/43385 European Union : Louis Michel is threatened of dismissal !] , digitalcongo.net] .

Titles

In 1995, he was appointed Minister of State, an honorific title given to prominent Belgian politicians.

*Knight, Officer and Commander in the Order of Léopold
*Médaille civique de la classe
*Grand-Croix de l'ordre Royal Suédois de l'Etoile Polaire
*Grand-Croix de l'ordre "Infante Dom Henrique"
*Grand-Cross in the Order of Orange-Nassau
*Grand-Cross in the Order of Isabella the Catholic
*Grand-Cross in the Order of Dannebrog
*Grand-Croix de l'ordre de l'Honneur
*Grand-Croix de l'ordre de l'Etoile de la Roumanie
*Grand officer in the Order of the Pléiade (Ordre de la Francophonie et du dialogue des cultures; that is, "Order of the Francophonie and of the dialogue of cultures")
*Grand Officer in the Légion d'honneur
*Grand Cordon de l'ordre du Mérite
*Ordre "Stara Planina" de 1ère classe

Publications

*Horizons : la volonté d'impliquer le citoyen dans la politique internationale, 2004, editions Luc Pire, with introduction by Kofi Annan and Guy Verhofstadt
*Les nouveaux enjeux de la politique étrangère belge, 2003, editions Larcier
*L'Europe, je veux savoir : 110 questions simple sur le grand univers européen, 2001, 2003 et 2004, Editions Luc Pire
*L'axe du Bien, 2003 Editions Luc Pire
*Contre le racisme, J'agis. La conférence mondiale contre le Racisme, la discrimination raciale, la Xénophobie et l'intolérance qui y est associée, 2002
*Lettre aux citoyens de mon pays, 1999, 2003, et 2004
*Objectif 100, La Wallonie j'y crois!, 1988, PRL-Editions
*Rendre confiance, 1998, Editions Luc Pire, Collection politique
*Wallons et Optimismes, 1997, Editions Luc Pire, Collection politique
*De Echte Walen, 1997, Editions Luc Pire, Collection politique
*Libres et forts, projet éducatif pour réussir le futur, 1986
*L'enfant, with collaboration of Philippe Monfils, 1984
*Le défi vert with collaboration of Daniel Ducarme, 1980.

The Congo-Kinshasa dossier

Louis Michel has been interested in the Central Africa situation and busy with the Congo-Kinshasa dossier since he became Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999-2004) and European Commissioner in charge of the Development & Humanitarian Aid in the Barroso Commission.

Congo had been a Belgian colony between 1908 and 1960. Since then, the relations between Brussels and Kinshasa have been tumultuous: secession of Katanga backed by Belgium, murder of the Prime Minister Lumumba by the Belgian secret services, expulsion of the Belgian ambassador in the 60's, banning of the Sabena company to land in Kinshasa, "authentic zaïrian" policy... The father of Joseph Kabila, Laurent-Desiré Kabila had very bad relations with Brussels. Many rumours accuse Louis Michel of having used Joseph Kabila as a puppet since his father was murdered in 2001. Therefore, the media has described in a very suspicious way the good relations between Louis Michel and Joseph Kabila.

Since 2001, Michel has encouraged the peace process for Congo-Kinshasa that has officially put an end to the Second Congo War by establishing a Transitional government (June 2003 - June 2006). The two main missions of this government were to maintain the peace by integrating all the militias into the unified army and to bring the country to elections on 30th June 2006 having ratified the new constitution by referendum.

In a lecture on January 17, 2008 (entitled Africa-Europe: the indispensable partnership) at the London School of Economics, Michel faced Congolese protestors who accused him of being complicit in Kabila's assassination and installing a puppet government in the Congo today. The meeting was abandoned shortly before its scheduled end as the chair found it impossible to continue with the interruptions.

References

ee also

*Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.

External links

* [http://ec.europa.eu/comm/commission_barroso/michel/index_en.htm Official website]
* [http://www.obsac.com/OBSV9-OrdreMichelin060128.html Les enjeux de l'ordre Michelin au Congo-Kinshasa]