1. Charles Michel previously served as the prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019.
27 Facts About Charles Michel
1. 2.
Charles Michel led MR to the 2014 federal election, where they emerged as the third-largest party in the Chamber of Representatives.
3.
Charles Michel was sworn in on 11 October 2014, becoming the youngest Belgian prime minister since Jean-Baptiste Nothomb in 1841.
4.
Charles Michel subsequently tendered his resignation and remained in office in a caretaker capacity.
5.
At the 2019 federal election shortly afterwards, MR lost a number of seats, although Charles Michel remained in office as interim prime minister during coalition negotiations.
6.
Charles Michel took over from Donald Tusk at a ceremony on 29 November 2019, formally beginning his term on 1 December 2019.
7.
Charles Michel was born in Namur, Wallonia, on 21 December 1975.
8.
Charles Michel is the son of Louis Michel, a former European Commissioner, and Martine Pierre.
9.
Charles Michel began his political career at the age of 16 when he joined the Young Liberal Reformers of Jodoigne, affiliated to the MR.
10.
Charles Michel graduated in law at the Universite libre de Bruxelles and the University of Amsterdam in 1998, after which he became lawyer at the Brussels Bar.
11.
Charles Michel is fluent in Dutch and English in addition to his native French.
12.
Charles Michel's brother Mathieu Michelis a Belgian politician, having served as Secretary of State for Digitisation between 2020 and 2025.
13.
Shortly after finishing university, while his father was Belgium's Minister of Home Affairs, Charles Michel was elected to the federal Chamber of Representatives in 1999, representing Walloon Brabant, a stronghold of the liberal MR.
14.
In December 2007, Charles Michel became the Minister of Development Cooperation in the Verhofstadt III Government and subsequently in the Leterme I, Van Rompuy I and Leterme II governments.
15.
On 7 October 2014, an overall agreement was reached between the four parties to form a new government, with Charles Michel proposed as prime minister, and Peeters as one of four deputy prime ministers.
16.
Charles Michel became the youngest Belgian prime minister in 173 years since Jean-Baptiste Nothomb in 1841, and was only the second Francophone liberal to become prime minister.
17.
Charles Michel remained in office as caretaker prime minister during the 2019 federal election, and the ensuing coalition negotiations.
18.
On 2 July 2019, Charles Michel was selected President of the European Council, one of the most prominent leadership positions of the European Union.
19.
On 27 September 2020, Charles Michel expressed deep concern over the escalation of hostilities in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to immediately halt fighting and progress towards a peaceful resolution.
20.
Charles Michel denounced a "lack of transparency and loyalty" by the United States.
21.
In September 2022, Charles Michel met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at his palace in Jeddah to discuss strengthening cooperation between the EU and Saudi Arabia.
22.
In February 2023, Charles Michel met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa to normalize EU-Ethiopia relations that had been damaged by the Tigray War.
23.
In September 2023, Charles Michel condemned Azerbaijan's offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and urged the country to immediately stop its military activities and return to dialogue.
24.
In January 2024, Charles Michel announced he would step down as president of the European Council to run in the 2024 European Parliament election, before reversing his decision within the same month and declaring he would finish his current mandate.
25.
In March 2021, Charles Michel visited Georgia and participated in talks between Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the opposition.
26.
Charles Michel met Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in Brussels later that month, and met political leaders in Tbilisi in April 2021, after an agreement was signed after several weeks of mediation brokered by Charles Michel and the EU.
27.
Early in the third year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, roughly 750 days from its start, Charles Michel wrote an op-ed in La Libre in which he advocated for a war-time economy and consequent re-balancing of expenditures.