Jean Rey

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Jean Rey (born July 15, 1902 in Liège ; † May 19, 1983 ibid) was a Belgian lawyer and liberal politician. From 1967 to 1970 he was the first president of the joint commission of the three European communities .

Jean Rey at the World Economic Forum in Davos (1975)

Life

Rey's father was a Protestant pastor, as were many of his ancestors. From 1926, Jean Rey attorney at the Court of Appeal in Liege . In 1935 he became a councilor in his hometown and quickly began to be active in Belgian domestic politics. In 1939 he was elected to the Belgian parliament.

Rey spoke out against the Belgian government and King Leopold III on the eve of World War II . pursued policy of independence or neutrality in their country and for taking sides against Germany. In 1940 he was drafted as a reserve officer with the rank of captain and arrested by the Germans; he spent the rest of the war in captivity .

After the war, Jean Rey was re-elected to the Belgian parliament for the Liberal Party in 1946 and again and again until 1958. In 1947 he was Vice President of the Belgian Office for Family Affairs. In 1948 he represented Belgium at the third General Assembly of the United Nations . Through his work as Minister for Reconstruction (1949–50) and for Economy (1954–58) Rey was involved early on in the development of the European Coal and Steel Community and in the negotiations to create the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community . As Minister of Economic Affairs, he had to contend with the first recession and inflation after the post-war investment boom and the effects of the crisis in the Belgian colony of the Congo . In doing so, he did not use a guiding economic policy based on the French model, but instead relied on the free forces of the market, similar to German economic policy.

From 1958 to 1967, as a member of the EEC Commission, he was responsible for external relations and primarily influenced the tough GATT and EFTA negotiations at the beginning of the 1960s. He paid particular attention to a common customs policy of the EEC countries, in particular to the dismantling of tariffs both within the Community and externally. In 1967 Rey Walter Hallstein succeeded as President of the EC Commission. Rey was the first President of the Joint Commission of the European Communities after the merger agreement . His efforts to strengthen the European institutions expanded the powers of the European Parliament and led to the establishment of general European elections . In the first European elections in 1979 Rey won a mandate himself , which he held until 1980. The customs union was concluded under Rey's presidency in 1968 . At the Hague Summit in 1969 he played a key role in the European Economic and Monetary Union initiative and political cooperation . The decision made in 1970 to provide the EC with its own funds also goes back to Rey's commitment.

For his work at the commission, Jean Rey was awarded the Charlemagne Prize on May 15, 1969 in Aachen .

He was a Freemason and speakers who secretly during his captivity in Oflag XD founded Masonic lodge l'Obstinée .

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rey, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian lawyer and liberal politician, MEP
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Liege
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1983
Place of death Liege