Didier Reynders
Belgian federal minister

Didier Reynders

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Belgian federal minister
Gender:
Male
Places:
Belgium
Is:
PoliticianLawyerEducator
Work field:
AcademiaLawPolitics
Birth:
6 August 1958(Liège)
Star sign:
Leo
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Introduction

Didier J.L. Reynders (born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR). He was Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister for Finance and Institutional Reforms in the Van Rompuy I Government, which took office on 30 December 2008. Since 2011 he has been Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Life and career

He was born in Liège as the youngest in a family of three children. He studied law at the University of Liège. He served as Chairman of the NMBS / SNCB from 1986 to 1991. He served as Minister of Finance from 1999 to 2011; in 2002, he chaired the G-10 which is the meeting of the main creditor states (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States). He became Deputy Prime Minister in 2004. He was the chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur from 2004 to 2011.

Reynders led the MR to a victory in the 2007 election, with the MR becoming the largest Francophone party of Belgium. The Belgian King appointed Reynders as informateur, i.e. to start off the informal coalition talks for a new federal government.

Stalemate followed the 2010 general election. The King appointed a succession of people to negotiate a coalition from June 2010 onwards, but none succeeded in the task of forming a new government during the following seven months. Reynders was appointed informateur by the King on 2 February 2011. He reported on 16 February 2011, and his brief was extended through 1 March 2011.

Honours

  • 2013 : Commander in the Legion of Honour.
  • 2014 : Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold
  • 2014 : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
  • 2016 : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
  • Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Merit.