- Étienne Davignon
Étienne, Viscount Davignon (born
October 4 ,1932 ) is a Belgianpolitician ,businessman , and former vice-president of theEuropean Commission .After receiving a Doctorate of Law from the
Université catholique de Louvain , Davignon joined the Belgian Foreign Ministry, in 1959, and within two years had become anattaché underPaul-Henri Spaak , then Minister of Foreign Affairs. He remained in Belgian government until 1965. In 1970, he chaired the committee of experts which produced theDavignon report on foreign policy for Europe.Davignon later became the first head of the
International Energy Agency , from 1974 to 1977, before becoming a member of the European Commission, of which he was vice-president from 1981 till 1985. From 1989 to 2001, he was chairman of the Belgian bankSociété Générale de Belgique , which is now part of the French supplier Suez and was not an arm of the French bankSociété Générale , but a Belgian institution. He is now Vice Chairman of Suez subsidiary, Suez-Tractebel.As chairman of Société Générale de Belgique, he was a member of the
European Round Table of Industrialists . He is the current co-chairman of theEU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table , chairman of the Paul-Henri Spaak Foundation, president of theRoyal Institute for International Relations , chairman of [CSR Europe] , chairman of the European Academy of Business in Society and current chairman of the annual Bilderberg conference.Fact|O RLY|date=October 2008Étienne Davignon is chairman of the board of directors of
Brussels Airlines , which he co-founded after the bankruptcy ofSabena . He is also member of the board of numerous Belgian companies.On
January 26 ,2004 , Davignon was given the honorary title of "Minister of State", giving him a seat on the Crown Council.He also is a crucial member of the Strategic Advisory Panel of The European Business Awards. He is a member of the
Cercle Gaulois and a member of the Advisory Board of theItinera Institute think-tank . He is also President of theBrussels -based think-tankFriends of Europe .Étienne's grandfather,
Julien Davignon , also served in the government of Belgium, being Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1914, at the outbreak ofWorld War I .External links
* [http://www.corporateeurope.org/davignoncv.html Curriculum vitae] at Corporate Europe Observatory
* [http://www.belgium.be/eportal/application?languageParameter=en&pageid=contentPage&docId=5369 Biography] at the Belgian Federal Portal
* [http://www.isc-symposium.org/ISC/cv_theses_etienne_davignon.pdf Profile (PDF)] at the ISC-Symposium
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm BBC interview]
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