Didier Reynders

Didier Reynders ( born August 6, 1958 in Liège ) is a Belgian politician of the party Mouvement Réformateur and was from 2004 to 2011 the chairman of the party. From June 1999 to December 2011 he held the office of the Belgian Minister of Finance. On December 6, 2011, he moved to the new government Di Rupo to the post of foreign minister.

Life

Reynders was the youngest of three children in Liege to the world. His father worked as a sales representative and his mother kept a small shop in Saint -Nicolas. He attended the Institute Sacré Cœur in Saint -Nicolas Saint Jean Berchmans and the Institute in his native town, and devoted himself thereafter to the study of law at the University of Liège, which he finished in 1981 with a master's.

Then Reynders worked as a lawyer until 1985. From 1986 to 1991 he was president of the Belgian State Railways, 1991-1993 President of the Société Nationale des Voies aériennes and 1992-1999 President of the Board of Directors of SEFB Record Bank.

1985 took over Reynders his first political post as Director General of the Department of Local Authorities of the country's Minister of the Walloon Region. From 1987 to 1988 he was Head of Cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Justice Jean Gol and was elected in 1988 for the Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL ) in the Liege municipal parliament. In 1992, Reynders chaired the PRL and moved as a deputy in the Belgian House of Representatives. 1995 Reynders was appointed group chairman of his party in the Liège municipal parliament and in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives both, and took over the office of President of the PRL at the level of the Fédération Provinciale as well as for the district of Liege.

After the 1999 elections, the PRL was in government Verhofstadt I put three ministers and Reynders was sworn in on 12 July 1999 by King Albert II as Belgian finance minister. A post he held in the Government Verhofstadt II from 2003 held, where his portfolio was expanded to include responsibility for institutional reforms in July 2004. When the then Foreign Minister Louis Michel in July 2004 resigned from the government and took over the office of the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid in the Barroso I, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister fell to Reynders. He was thus one of the most important political figures in the country.

In October 2004, Reynders took over the party presidency of the Mouvement Réformateur in which the PRL had risen. At the federal level, he served as Minister for Finance and Institutional Reforms in the Government Verhofstadt III of 21 December 2007 to 20 March 2008. Following the resignation of the government, he was commissioned by King Albert II with exploratory talks for a possible new government took over in the newly formed government Leterme I of 20 March 2008 to 19 December 2008, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of Institutional reforms. These powers retained Reynders first in the government Van Rompuy and of 25 November 2009 to 6 December 2011 in the government Leterme II In the new government Di Rupo he is in addition to his role as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs.

Reynders is International since 2005, treasurer of the Liberals. He is also a lecturer at the Hautes Ecoles commerciales de Liège and visiting professor at the Université catholique de Louvain.

In 2000 Reynders the title of Commander of the Order of Leopold was awarded.

Overview of political offices

Publications (selection)

• Tax policy Priorities under the Belgian Presidency of the European Union falling on the second half of 2001. In: EC Tax Review. Vol 10, No. 3, 2001, ISSN 0928-2750, p 145
• La présidence belge de l' Euro Groupe: vers un renforcement économique de la coordination. In: Reflets de la vie économique & perspectives. Vol 40, 2001, ISSN 0034-2971, p 139
• Economic governance within a larger EMU. In: Studia diplomatica. Vol 56, No. 4, 2003, ISSN 0770-2965, p 57