Louis Michel

Michel was the Belgian foreign minister and Vice Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004. During his time in office, he pursued former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for crimes against humanity and played an active role in trying to bring peace to the war-weary Great Lakes region of central Africa.[1]

In July 2004, the Verhofstadt government appointed Michel as its candidate for the Belgian seat on the European Commission led by José Manuel Durão Barroso, to replace former commissioner Philippe Busquin. He was nominated on 12 August 2004 to become EU commissioner starting in November 2004.

As part of a political agreement, Busquin resigned early in September 2004 to give Louis Michel an early opportunity to serve on the European Commission. 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.

He is also the mayor of the municipality of Jodoigne in Walloon Brabant and has been since 1983.

Michel and President of the Central African Republic, François Bozizé, in Brussels, 2007

In 2006, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him to a High-level Panel on United Nations Systemwide Coherence, which was set up to explore how the United Nations system could work more coherently and effectively across the world in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment.[2]

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.[3] He resigned as Commissioner in July 2009 to become a Member of the European Parliament.

Throughout his time as Member of the European Parliament, Michel served on the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. From 2016 until 2017, he was part of the Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA) that investigated the Panama Papers revelations and tax avoidance schemes more broadly.

In addition to his committee assignments, Michel co-presided over the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly which advises on the orientations of co-operation policies between the EU and its partners in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. He was also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights;[4] the European Parliament Intergroup on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights;[5] 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.[6] He 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 (CVD).[7]

Michel is also a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee,[8] ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac to promote world peace.

Michel has been interested in the Central Africa situation and busy with the Democratic Republic of the Congo dossier since he became Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999–2004) and European Commissioner in charge of the Development & Humanitarian Aid in the Barroso Commission.

Congo was a Belgian colony between 1908 and 1960. Since then, the relations between Brussels and Kinshasa have been tumultuous. They have included such events as the secession of Katanga backed by Belgium, the murder of the Prime Minister Lumumba by the Belgian secret services, the expulsion of the Belgian ambassador in the 1960s, the banning of the Sabena company from landing in Kinshasa, and "authentic Zaïrian" policy. The father of Joseph Kabila, Laurent-Désiré Kabila had very bad relations with Brussels. Many rumours accuse Louis Michel of having used Joseph Kabila as a puppet since his father was murdered in 2001. Therefore, the media has described in a very suspicious way the good relations between Louis Michel and Joseph Kabila.

Since 2001, 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 (June 2003 – June 2006). The two main missions of this government were to maintain the peace by integrating all the militias into the unified army and to bring the country to elections on 30 June 2006 having ratified the new constitution by referendum.

In a lecture on 17 January 2008 (entitled Africa-Europe: the indispensable partnership) at the London School of Economics, Michel faced Congolese protestors who accused him of being complicit in Kabila's assassination and installing a puppet government in the Congo. The meeting was abandoned shortly before its scheduled end as the chair found it impossible to continue with the interruptions.

In a 2010 magazine interview Michel stated, "Leopold II was a true visionary for his time, a hero." The comment was negatively received in the Congo.[9]

After the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in 2006 the Commissioner visited Lebanon and called for €30 million to repair the damage there. The Parliament's development committee was cautious though about the expenditure and he was also criticised for his slow response with one MEP comparing him to "a fireman who arrives at the scene after the fire has gone out". In the same debate MEPs attacked the Commissioner for "appearing partial in the Congolese elections" in describing Joseph Kabila as "the hope of Congo". Michel responded by saying he would have said the same about any candidate in the democratic elections.[10]