1. Leo Tindemans served as the prime minister of Belgium from 25 April 1974 until he resigned as minister on 20 October 1978.
22 Facts About Leo Tindemans
1. 2.
Leo Tindemans was a member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party.
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Leo Tindemans was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1961 and re-elected in 1965,1968,1971,1974,1977 and 1978.
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From 1965 to 1973 Leo Tindemans served as the mayor of Edegem.
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In 1968, Leo Tindemans became minister tasked with the relations between the communities, during which he prepared the first constitutional reform, which saw Belgium start transforming into a federal state.
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Leo Tindemans served as Prime Minister of two Belgian governments, from 25 April 1974 to 20 October 1978.
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Leo Tindemans's first cabinet was a minority government formed by the Christian-democrats and liberals.
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When his first government fell in 1977, Leo Tindemans won the snap general election with 983,000 votes, still a record for any election in Belgium.
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Leo Tindemans deliberately sought to avoid using the term constitution, and instead referred to his proposals as "a new phase in the history of the unification of Europe which can only be achieved by a continuous process".
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Leo Tindemans argued for placing the interest of joint action above each country's own interests, and advocated for placing a delegate responsible for representing a collective Europe's decisions.
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Lastly on the foreign policy front, Leo Tindemans advocated for the eventual creation of a common defence policy.
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Leo Tindemans proposed expanding the scope of monetary policy by establishing an internal monetary policy, budgetary policy, and plans for the control of inflation.
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Leo Tindemans supported abolishing the remaining obstacles to free trade of capital that existed within the European Economic Community.
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Finally, Leo Tindemans hoped for a citizen's Europe; he advocated for European civil rights, consumer rights, and protection of the environment.
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Leo Tindemans pushed for a European passport union, and creation of integrated educational systems.
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Finally, Leo Tindemans encouraged broad institutional reform, pushing for increased powers to the European Parliament, and overall reform for the European Council, the Council of Ministers, and the European Commission.
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Leo Tindemans participated in at least one Bilderberg Conference in Aachen in 1980.
18.
Leo Tindemans appears on the provisional list of participants for the 1967 Bilderberg Conference which means that he was invited and accepted the invitation.
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Leo Tindemans either cancelled at the last minute or was omitted from the official list of participants.
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Leo Tindemans received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1978.
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Leo Tindemans was elected to the European Parliament with a record number of votes and was a member of that parliament from 1979 to 1981.
22.
Leo Tindemans died on 26 December 2014 in Edegem, Antwerp, Belgium, aged 92.