- Antoinette Spaak
Antoinette M. Spaak, born in
Brussels on27 June 1928 , is a Belgian politician.Daughter of former
Prime Minister of Belgium Paul-Henri Spaak , granddaughter of the first female member of theBelgian Senate Marie Janson , and great-niece of Prime MinisterPaul-Émile Janson , Spaak was born into a leading Belgian political family.After the death of her father, she joined the
Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF), rising to become the leader of the party from 1977 to 1982, the first Belgian woman to lead a political party. She was a member of theEuropean Parliament from 1977 to 1982, and again from 1994 to 1999.She headed the
French Community of Belgium from 1988 to 1992. In the 1990s, together withLouis Michel , she was in the vanguard of the movement which led to the fusion of the FDF, theLiberal Reformist Party (PRL), and theCitizens' Movement for Change (MCC), to create theReformist Movement (MR).She was appointed an honorary
Minister of State in 1983.
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