Charles Michel

Charles Michel ([ʃaʁl miʃɛl]; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician serving as President of the European Council since 2019, and previously served as Prime Minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019.

The son of Louis Michel, also a prominent Belgian politician, Michel became Minister of Development Cooperation in 2007, and remained in this position until elected the leader of the Francophone liberal Reformist Movement (MR) in February 2011. He led MR to the 2014 federal election, where they emerged as the third-largest party in the Chamber of Representatives. After coalition negotiations, Michel was confirmed as Prime Minister of a MR-N-VA-OVLD-CD&V government. He was sworn in on 11 October 2014, becoming the youngest Belgian Prime Minister since 1845.

In December 2018, the government collapsed following internal disagreements over the handling of the Global Compact for Migration, with the N-VA withdrawing from the cabinet. Michel subsequently tendered his resignation and remained in office in a caretaker capacity. At the 2019 federal election shortly afterwards, MR lost a number of seats, although Michel remained in office as interim Prime Minister during coalition negotiations. Weeks after the federal election, on 2 July 2019, the European Council voted to appoint Michel as its new President. He took over from Donald Tusk at a ceremony on 29 November 2019, formally beginning his term on 1 December 2019.

Charles Michel was born in Namur, Wallonia, on 21 December 1975. His father, Louis Michel, is a Reformist Movement (MR) politician who was mayor of Jodoigne and subsequently a European Commissioner and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). His mother is Martine Pierre.

Charles Michel began his political career at the age of 16 when he joined the Young Liberal Reformers of Jodoigne (Jeunes Réformateurs Libéraux de Jodoigne), affiliated to the MR. In 1994, at the age of 18, Charles Michel was elected provincial councilor in Walloon Brabant. He graduated in law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the University of Amsterdam in 1998, after which he became lawyer at the Brussels Bar. He is fluent in Dutch and English in addition to his native French.

Michel was elected to the federal Chamber of Representatives in 1999, representing Walloon Brabant, a stronghold of the liberal MR.

In 2000, he became Minister of Home Affairs in the Walloon Government aged 25, making him the youngest regional minister in Belgian history. At the local level, he was elected city councillor in Wavre in 2000, and in 2006 became mayor of the city.

In December 2007, Michel became the Minister of Development Cooperation in the Verhofstadt III Government and subsequently in the Leterme I, Van Rompuy I and Leterme II governments.

After poor results in the 2009 regional elections, Michel was part of a group demanding the MR leader Didier Reynders resign. After the party suffered further losses in the 2010 federal election, Reynders did resign, and Michel announced his candidacy to replace him. In January 2011, he was elected President of MR, and resigned from the cabinet.

After the 2014 federal election, Michel became co-formateur in the ensuing coalition negotiations. Initially, CD&V Leader Kris Peeters was expected to be Prime Minister. However CD&V also insisted on Marianne Thyssen being appointed as European Commissioner, and Michel's MR refused to allow the two most important political posts to be held by a single party.

Ultimately, the parties agreed to appoint Thyssen as European Commissioner, with an understanding that the prime ministership would go to either MR or OVLD. As Michel was serving as co-formateur, he quickly won internal support from other parties to lead the next government. On 7 October 2014, an overall agreement was reached between the four parties to form a new government, with Michel proposed as Prime Minister, and Peeters as one of four Deputy Prime Ministers. Michel became the youngest Belgian Prime Minister, and was only the second Francophone liberal to become Prime Minister.

In December 2018, a political crisis emerged over whether to sign the Global Compact for Migration. Michel's coalition partner NVA, which originally supported the Compact, reversed course to oppose it whereas the other three parties continued to support it. Michel subsequently announced the formation of a minority government, with CD&V, MR and OVLD backing the compact. On 18 December, he presented his government's resignation to the King. The King accepted Michel's resignation on 21 December after consulting party leaders. He remained in office as caretaker Prime Minister during the 2019 federal election, and the ensuing coalition negotiations.

On 2 July 2019, Michel was elected President of the European Council, one of the most prominent leadership positions of the European Union.

• Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold (21 May 2014)
• Minister of State (31 October 2019)