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Jean Rey (politician)
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{{Short description|Belgian politician (1902–1983)}} {{More citations needed|date=June 2010}} {{EngvarB|date=May 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific-prefix = [[His Excellency]] | name = Jean Rey | image = Jean Rey 1966 (cropped).jpg | office = [[President of the European Commission]] | vicepresident = [[Sicco Mansholt]] | term_start = 2 July 1967 | term_end = 30 June 1970 | predecessor = [[Walter Hallstein]] | successor = [[Franco Maria Malfatti]] | office1 = [[European Commissioner for External Relations]] | president1 = [[Walter Hallstein]] | term_start1 = 7 January 1958 | term_end1 = 2 July 1967 | predecessor1 = Position established | successor1 = Edoardo Martino | birth_name = Jean Max Georges Rey | birth_date = {{birth date|1902|7|15|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Liège]], [[Belgium]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1983|5|19|1902|7|15|df=y}} | death_place = Liège, Belgium | resting_place = [[Brussels Cemetery]],<br />[[Evere]], [[Brussels]], Belgium | party = [[Liberal Reformist Party (Belgium)|Liberal Reformist Party]] {{small|(1971–)}} | otherparty = [[Party for Freedom and Progress]] {{small|(Before 1971)}} | spouse = | children = | alma_mater = [[University of Liège]] | signature = | caption = Rey in 1966 }} '''Jean Rey''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ ʁɛ|lang}}; 15 July 1902 – 19 May 1983) was a [[Belgium|Belgian]] Liberal politician who served as the second [[President of the European Commission#List of presidents|president of the European Commission]] from 1967 to 1970. He served as [[European Commissioner for External Relations]] from 1958 to 1967. The 1983–1984 academic year at the [[College of Europe]] was named in his honour. ==Early life== Born in [[Liège]] into a Protestant family, Jean Rey studied law at the [[University of Liège]], where he obtained a PhD in 1926. He began his career as a barrister at the Court of Appeal in Liège. His commitment to the [[Walloon Movement]] drew him into politics. He joined the [[Liberal Party (Belgium)|Liberal Party]] and was elected city councillor of Liège in 1935. In 1939, he won a seat in the [[Belgian Chamber of Representatives]]. In the wake of World War II, he was one of the most vocal opponents of the "policy of independence" (neutrality) supported by successive Belgian governments and [[Leopold III of Belgium|King Leopold III]]. He was mobilised as a reserve officer in 1940 and served during the [[Battle of Belgium]]. He was captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the conflict as a prisoner of war, being interned in [[Oflag XD]] near [[Fischbeck]], where he was a member of the clandestine [[Masonic Lodge]] [[Obstinée|L'Obstinée]].<ref>[http://www.mason.be/en/rey.htm Jean Rey (1902–1983)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101081924/http://www.mason.be/en/rey.htm |date=1 November 2013 }}</ref> ==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. ==References== {{reflist}} ==Sources== {{Commons category|Jean Rey}} * [http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/history/rey/index_en.htm Jean Rey] (EU) * [http://www.cvce.eu/obj/address_given_by_jean_rey_on_the_merger_of_the_executive_bodies_strasbourg_20_september_1967-en-9ae9a61c-a7ca-4555-a3c4-baa34d370c83.html Address given by Jean Rey on the merger of the executive bodies] (Strasbourg, 20 September 1967) {{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-new|rows=2|office}} {{s-ttl|title=[[List of European Commissioners by nationality#Belgium|Belgian European Commissioner]]|years=1958–1970|alongside=[[Albert Coppé]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Albert Coppé]]}} |- {{s-ttl|title=[[European Commissioner for External Relations]]|years=1958–1967}} {{s-aft|after=[[Edoardo Martino]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Walter Hallstein]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[President of the European Commission]]|years=1967–1970}} {{s-aft|after=[[Franco Maria Malfatti]]}} |- {{s-aca}} {{s-bef|before=[[Albert II of Belgium]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Convocation Speaker for the [[College of Europe]]|years=1970}} {{s-aft|after=[[Altiero Spinelli]]}} {{s-end}} {{Hallstein Commission I}} {{European Commission}} {{European Commissioner for External Relations}} {{European Commissioner for Trade}} {{European Commissioners from Belgium}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Jean}} [[Category:1902 births]] [[Category:1983 deaths]] [[Category:Belgian European commissioners]] [[Category:Ministers of state of Belgium]] [[Category:Belgian Protestants]] [[Category:Politicians from Liège]] [[Category:Presidents of the European Commission]] [[Category:University of Liège alumni]] [[Category:Walloon movement activists]] [[Category:Belgian prisoners of war in World War II]] [[Category:Liberal Party (Belgium) politicians]] [[Category:Belgian people of Swiss descent]] [[Category:European commissioners (1967–1970)]]
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