Herman Van Rompuy

Herman Van Rompuy (2012)

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Herman Achille Graaf Van Rompuy  [ ˈɦɛɾmɑn vɑn ˈɾɔmpœy̆ ] (born October 31, 1947 in Etterbeek ) is a Belgian politician of the Flemish Christian Democratic Party (CD&V). From December 30, 2008 to November 25, 2009 he was Belgian Prime Minister and Head of Government . From December 1, 2009 to November 30, 2014, he was the first permanent President of the European Council for two terms .

Family and education

Herman Van Rompuy is the son of Victor Van Rompuy and Germaine Geen. He graduated from Sint-Jan Berchmans College in Brussels in 1965 . He studied at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven , where he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1968 and a master's degree in business administration in 1971 .

Van Rompuy is married and has four children. His brother Eric Van Rompuy is also a politician; he represents the CD&V in the Flemish Parliament . His sister Tine Van Rompuy stood in several elections, including the 2009 European elections in Belgium , for the communist Partij van de Arbeid . He writes haiku privately , and in 2010 he published a book of haiku poems.

Political career

Beginnings of the party career and academic teaching

From 1973 to 1977 Van Rompuy was deputy chairman of the youth organization of the Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP), which became the CD&V in 2001, and became a member of the CVP's ​​party office in 1978. After working as a home affairs attaché at the National Bank of Belgium from 1972 to 1975 , he then became an advisor in the cabinets of Prime Minister Leo Tindemans (1975–1978) and Finance Minister Gaston Geens (1978–1980). From 1980 to 1988 he was director of the Centrum voor Politieke, Economische en Sociale Studies and taught from 1980 to 1987 at the Antwerp Business School and since 1982 at the Vlaamse Economische Hogeschool Brussel (VLEKHO).

Promotion to high party and state offices

From the mid-1980s Van Rompuy was part of the party leadership and was chairman of the CVP from 1988 to 1993. He was also a member of the Belgian Senate from 1988 to 1993 . From 1993 to 1999 he held the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Budget Minister under Jean-Luc Dehaene .

His ministerial career ended for the time being after his party's severe electoral defeat in June 1999, after which the CVP had to go into the opposition . Since then he has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies , of which he was elected President on July 12, 2007. In 2004 he received the honorary title of " Minister of State ".

After the failure of the negotiations to form a federal government under the formateur Yves Leterme , Van Rompuy was appointed by King Albert II in August 2007 to find a basis for new coalition negotiations (explorateur) . After the failure of the short-lived Letermes five-party government in December 2008, the Flemish Christian Democrat was proposed by the King and explorer Wilfried Martens as the new head of government and on December 30, 2008 by King Albert II in the office of Sworn in by the Prime Minister. Van Rompuy is seen as a key figure in overcoming the crisis in the Flemish-Walloon conflict in 2007/2008. In Belgium, Van Rompuy is known by the nickname The Sphinx because of his inconspicuous, reserved demeanor .

President of the European Council

On November 19, 2009, Van Rompuy was designated the first permanent president of the European Council at a special summit . This office was newly created with the Treaty of Lisbon , which came into force on December 1, 2009. Van Rompuy's tenure began on that day. He had already been discussed as a compromise candidate in the days leading up to the summit after other candidates such as Tony Blair and Jean-Claude Juncker encountered resistance from various national governments. Since his new post is incompatible with that of a head of government, he had to give up the post of Belgian prime minister. On November 25, 2009, the Van Rompuy government resigned as a whole and Yves Leterme was reappointed Prime Minister (see Leterme II government ).

Van Rompuys' cabinet head as Council President was Franciskus van Daele . The first few months in the new office were characterized by creating a functional structure for the new office, which had a total of just 23 employees, and establishing its role between the other EU institutions, as well as the global economic crisis of 2009/2010 . His term of office was shaped by the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area , especially the Greek financial crisis . In the course of this, the euro rescue package was adopted in May 2010 and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was signed in July 2011 .

On March 1, 2012, Herman Van Rompuy was unanimously re - elected as President of the European Council by the heads of state and government of the 27 EU member states . His second term of office lasted two and a half years, from June 1, 2012 to November 30, 2014, and could not be extended due to the limitation of the term of office. Van Rompuy was also appointed first chairman of the Euro Summits, which take place at least twice a year, for the same period. On December 1, 2014, he was replaced as President of the European Council by former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk .

Publications

• De kentering the tijden. Lannoo, Tielt 1979, ISBN 90-209-0788-3 .
• Hopen na 1984. Davidsfonds, Löwen 1984, ISBN 90-6152-194-7 .
• Het christendom. A modern thought. Davidsfonds, Löwen 1990, ISBN 90-6152-584-5 .
• Vernieuwing in hoofd en hard. Een tegendraadse visie , Davidsfonds, Löwen 1998, ISBN 90-6152-688-4 .
• De binnenkant op een kier. Avonden zonder politiek , Lannoo, Tielt 2000, ISBN 90-209-4002-3 .
• Dagboek van een vijftiger , Davidsfonds, Löwen 2004, ISBN 90-5826-301-0 .
• A Christian in Europe today [Lecture on March 27, 2014 at the Philosophical-Theological College Benedict XVI. in Heiligenkreuz]. In: IKaZ Communio. Vol. 43, 2014, pp. 268-277.

Awards

For his commitment to the unification of Europe, Herman Van Rompuy received the Aachen Charlemagne Prize on May 29, 2014 . In 2015 he was awarded the Leopold Kunschak Prize and an honorary doctorate from the Free University of Amsterdam . He was also raised to the rank of count by the Belgian king.

Web links

Commons : Herman Van Rompuy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Personal homepage (Dutch)
• Vlog Van Rompuys

Individual evidence

1. ↑ lesoir.be: Actualité - Belgique - lesoir.be. In: lesoir.be. Retrieved January 5, 2017 . 
2. ^ "Haiku before the High Council" , Deutsche Welle , November 10, 2009.
3. ↑ Herman Van Rompuy Kamervoorzitter
4. ↑ Belgium: Van Rompuy should form a new government ( Memento from January 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ Belgium: King appoints Van Rompuy as the new head of government. In: Spiegel Online . December 30, 2008, accessed January 5, 2017 . 
6. ^ Vlaams Belang in bureau Kamer. In: standaard.be. July 12, 2007, accessed January 5, 2017 (Dutch). 
7. ^ Yves Leterme nommé Premier ministre. In: lalibre.be. November 25, 2009, accessed January 5, 2017 (French). 
8. ↑ Cf. 9 months van Rompuy as ER President: Cabinet chief van Daele draws an initial balance sheet in EBD Exklusiv. European Movement Germany , October 8, 2010, accessed on March 11, 2020 . 
9. ^ 'Gray mouse' EU chairman picked for second term. EUobserver , accessed March 2, 2012 . 
10. ↑ Claas Tatje: Herman van Rompuy: The underestimated. In: zeit.de . March 2, 2012, accessed January 5, 2017 . 
11. ^ The Charlemagne Prize winner 2014 Herman Van Rompuy. In: The international Charlemagne Prize in Aachen. May 29, 2014, archived from the original on December 13, 2014 ; accessed on December 13, 2014 . 
12. ^ Prize for Van Rompuy - and for Ettinger. In: diepresse.com. May 25, 2015, accessed January 5, 2017 . 
13. ↑ King Philippe raises Herman Van Rompuy to the nobility. In: BRF News. Retrieved January 6, 2017 .