Editing Jean Rey (politician) (section)

==Career after World War II==

After the war, he advocated for the federalisation of [[Belgium]]. As early as 1947 he promoted, together with five other members of Parliament (among whom [[Julien Lahaut]]), a bill on the organisation of a federal state. If passed, the new [[Constitution]] would have transformed Belgium into a ''[[Confederation]]'' consisting of two ''States'', [[Flanders]] and [[Wallonia]], and the federal region of [[Brussels]]. However, a majority in the Belgian Parliament refused to take the proposal into consideration.

Rey was Minister of Reconstruction from 1949 until 1950, and Minister of Economy from 1954 until 1958. As such, he was involved both in the early development of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] and in the negotiations that led to the creation of the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC) and the [[European Atomic Energy Community]] (EAEC).

Member of the commission ([[Hallstein Commission]]) of the CEE from 1958 until 1967, responsible for external relations, he played an important role in the negotiations of the [[Kennedy Round]] (1964–1967).

In 1967, he succeeded [[Walter Hallstein]] as President of the European Commission (he was the first President of the Commission of the merged CSCE, CEE and EAEC). Still a convinced federalist, he undertook to reinforce the Community institutions. He won increased powers for the [[European Parliament]] and advocated its election by universal suffrage. During his presidency, he oversaw the completion of the [[customs union]] (1968).

He also played an important role in the [[List of European Councils|Summit of The Hague]] in 1969, where the European leaders decided to relaunch European integration with two new initiatives: on the one hand, [[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union]] (EMU), and on the other hand, European Political Cooperation (EPC), which foreshadow the euro and the [[Common Foreign and Security Policy]] of the European Union today. It was also at [[The Hague]] that France gave up its resistance against the accession of the United Kingdom to the EEC.

Finally, in 1970, the last year of this mandate, Rey won the European governments' support for his proposal to give the Community "own resources". This meant that the EEC no longer depended exclusively on contributions by the member states, but could complete these with revenues from customs duties, and levies on agricultural products from outside the Community, in addition to a share of the VAT revenue.

From 1964 until 1974, Rey was chairman of the board of the [[College of Europe]] in [[Bruges]]. He presided over the [[European Movement]] from 1974 to 1978 and was a member of the [[Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe]]. In 1979, he became a member of the first [[European Parliament]] elected by [[universal suffrage]].

Jean Rey also remained active in Belgian politics. He became the ''éminence grise'' of the French-speaking liberals who broke away from the unitary [[Party for Freedom and Progress]] to form the [[Liberal Reformist Party (Belgium)|Parti Réformateur et Libéral Wallon]] (PRLW) in 1976.

Jean Rey died in his native city Liège. In the [[Brussels and the European Union|European Quarter]] of [[Brussels]], there is now a [[Jean Rey Square|square named after him]]. A street in the 15e arrondissement of Paris also bears his name.