Jean-Pol Poncelet

William Cohen accompanies Jean-Pol Poncelet as he enters the Pentagon
(July 2, 1997)

Jean-Pol Poncelet (born April 10, 1950 in Carlsbourg , Belgium ) is a Belgian politician .

biography

After attending school, Poncelet completed a degree in engineering at the Université catholique de Louvain , graduating in 1973 with a diploma in atomic physics . He then worked as a scientist.

He began his political career in 1991 when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a candidate for the Center Démocrate Humaniste (cdH) . After his re-elections in 1995 and 1999, he represented the constituency of Neufchâteau-Virton until 2003.

On June 23, 1995 he was appointed by Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense in his cabinet and was a member of this until the end of his term on July 12, 1999. He was also Minister of Energy between June 1998 and July 1999 .

After leaving the government, he finally became Director of Strategy and External Relations of the European Space Agency (ESA) on August 16, 2001 and held this post until 2005.

In November 2006, he moved to the private sector and was advisor to Anne Lauvergeon , the CEO of the French Group for nuclear engineering Areva . At the same time he became Director of AREVA for New Nuclear Energies , International Affairs and Marketing . Since February 2008 he has been Director of Development and Progress at AREVA.