Joseph Michel (politician)

Joseph Michel (October 2007)

Joseph Michel (born October 25, 1925 in Saint-Mard , Luxembourg province ; † June 3, 2016 ) was a Belgian writer and politician of the Parti Social Chrétien (PSC).

Life

The son of a bricklayer studied economics and law after attending school and graduated with a licentiate and a doctorate in law . In addition, he studied philosophy , graduated with a bachelor's degree and later worked as a lawyer and notary .

In 1971 he was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Deputies for the first time as a PSC candidate and represented the interests of the Neufchâteau district for 20 years until 1991 .

In 1974 Michel was appointed Minister of the Interior in his cabinet by Prime Minister Leo Tindemans and held this post until 1977. During his tenure, the territorial reform of January 1, 1977 , which merged many Belgian municipalities into new, larger municipalities. The total number of Belgian municipalities was radically reduced by this municipal area reform from 2,359 to 596. After a cabinet reshuffle, he was Minister for National Education in the governments of Tindemans and Paul Vanden Boeynants between 1977 and 1979 .

Between May 1979 and January 1987 he was also a member or deputy member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe . On October 24, 1980, Michel became President of the Chamber of Deputies and held this office until December 18, 1981.

His last position was from October 18, 1986 to May 9, 1988, Minister for Internal Affairs, Civil Service and Decentralization in the sixth and seventh governments of Prime Minister Wilfried Martens .

Publications

In addition to his professional and political career, Joseph Michel was also active as a writer and wrote several novels in addition to historical textbooks . He made his literary debut in 1954 with Histoire économique du Luxembourg au XIXe siècle . After leaving the Martens government and largely withdrawing from political life in 1988, he continued his writing career and published numerous books such as:

• La pire époque , 1988.
• La belle époque , 1989.
• La grande époque , 1990.
• Histoire de Virton, des origines à l'an 2000 , 1998.
• Gaumaiseries , 1994.
• Frisson de l'an 2000 , novel, 1999.
• Le magasin aux aventures, biography romancée de Marguerite Brouhon , 2003.
• Les petits vieux , 2003.
• Parlotes de la table carrée , 2004.
• La ronde des vents , novel, 2006.
• Avocats en liberté , Essays , 2006.

Web links

• Belgian Ministries (rulers.org)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Oud minister Joseph Michel overleden
2. ↑ Homepage (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.