1. Louis Michel served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009.
22 Facts About Louis Michel
1. 2.
Louis Michel is the father of Charles Michel, the previous Prime Minister of Belgium and previous President of the European Council.
3.
The Louis Michel family comes from the Flemish town Hoegaarden, just across the 1963 official linguistic border and the frontier between the present provinces of Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant.
4.
Louis Michel "went to school in Hoegaarden and still speaks perfectly the local dialect".
5.
Louis Michel's family moved from Hoegaarden to Zetrud-Lumay in 1955.
6.
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.
7.
From 1967 to 1977, Louis Michel was chairman of the Young Liberals in the district of Nivelles.
8.
Louis Michel was a member of the Belgian federal parliament as a representative.
9.
Louis Michel was the Belgian foreign minister and Vice Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004.
10.
Louis Michel was nominated on 12 August 2004 to become EU commissioner starting in November 2004.
11.
Louis Michel completed Busquin's term as the European Commissioner for Science and Research and then served as the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Development.
12.
Louis Michel is the mayor of the municipality of Jodoigne in Walloon Brabant and has been since 1983.
13.
Louis Michel withdrew himself from the Commission between the 12 May and the 10 June 2007 to take care of his political party because of the elections of 10 June 2007.
14.
Louis Michel resigned as Commissioner in July 2009 to become a Member of the European Parliament.
15.
Louis Michel was a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights; the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights; and the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.
16.
Louis Michel supported the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that will help reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases.
17.
Louis Michel is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac to promote world peace.
18.
Many rumours accuse Louis Michel of having used Joseph Kabila as a puppet since his father was murdered in 2001.
19.
Since 2001, Louis Michel has encouraged the peace process for the Democratic Republic of the Congo that officially put an end to the Second Congo War by establishing a Transitional government.
20.
Louis Michel responded by saying he would have said the same about any candidate in the democratic elections.
21.
Louis Michel caused some mild controversy in 2007 among MEPs when it became known that he is to take leave from his work to compete in Belgian elections.
22.
In 2013, Louis Michel was accused of submitting 229 amendments to an EU data protection bill of which 158 were strongly anti-privacy.