Karel De Gucht
European Commissioner for Trade
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 February 2010
Preceded by	Benita Ferrero-Waldner (Trade and Neighbourhood Policy)
European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
In office 17 July 2009 – 9 February 2010
Preceded by	Louis Michel
Succeeded by	Andris Piebalgs (Development) Kristalina Georgieva (International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response)
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 18 July 2004 – 17 July 2009
Prime Minister	Guy Verhofstadt Yves Leterme Herman Van Rompuy
Preceded by	Louis Michel
Succeeded by	Yves Leterme
Personal details
Born	(1954-01-27) 27 January 1954 (age 58) Overmere, Belgium
Political party	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats
Spouse(s)	Mireille Schreurs
Children	Frédéric Jean-Jacques
Alma mater	Free University of Brussels, Dutch
Profession	Lawyer Professor
Website	Official website

Karel Lodewijk Georgette Emmerence De Gucht (born 27 January 1954) is a Belgian politician who has been the European Commissioner for Trade since 2010. Previously, he was Belgium's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2009 and then European Commissioner for Development & Humanitarian Aid from 2009 to 2010.

De Gucht was also chairman of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD), a Belgian political party, for a time. In January 2004 he was forced to step down as chairman and was temporarily replaced until after the elections of 4 June by Dirk Sterckx. The reason for his resignation was a conflict between Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and him about a proposal to give non-citizen immigrants the right to vote in municipal elections, which De Gucht opposed. The conflict severely damaged the party's reputation, as reflected in the 2004 Belgian regional elections results.

Life and career[link]

Born at Overmere, De Gucht was elected to the Federal Parliament in the general elections on 18 May 2003. He was a member of the Flemish Parliament 1999–2003 and a member of the European Parliament 1995–1999.

Although elected to the Flemish Parliament and European Parliament in the elections of June 2004, he decided to take up neither seat and instead he was appointed the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs on 18 July 2004.

On a trip to Africa in late 2004, De Gucht sparked a diplomatic row when he said that "there is a problem with the political class in Congo" and questioned their ability to tackle corruption.^[1]

In June 2005, De Gucht caused a minor diplomatic spat with the Netherlands when he referred to the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende as "a mix between Harry Potter and a rigid bourgeois without charisma" in an interview with the popular Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

In December 2006, De Gucht condemned the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, organised in Iran.

For 2006, De Gucht was the Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

In a 2007 interview with Flanders Info, he said the following about the Lisbon Treaty: "The aim of the Constitutional Treaty was to be more readable; the aim of this treaty is to be unreadable [...] The Constitution aimed to be clear, whereas this treaty had to be unclear. It is a success." (1)

In November 2008, while De Gucht was a minister in the federal government, he was accused of insider trading in the case of the near-bankruptcy and subsequent nationalization and sale of Fortis Bank.^[2] On 3 October 2008, his wife, Mireille Schreurs, and brother-in-law sold their shares in Fortis Bank after a governmental crisis meeting to deal with the precarious financial situation of the bank, hours before the public announcement that the Dutch arm of the bank would be nationalized and the partly nationalized Belgian and Luxembourg branches sold to BNP Paribas.^[3] An anonymous complaint was received by the Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission alleging De Gucht's wife sold €500,000 worth of Fortis shares.^[4] De Gucht acknowledges that his wife and brother-in-law sold their mother's shares in Fortis Bank on the date in question for a smaller amount than alleged, but they deny that any insider trading was involved. He also points out that he personally lost €85,000 as a result of the nationalization and sale, and that his son, Jean-Jacques De Gucht, and mother kept their shares in the failing bank.^[5] The Ghent public prosecutor ultimately decided not to pursue an investigation in the matter stating "there is nothing to indicate that Mr De Gucht encouraged his wife, brother-in-law or any third party to sell their Fortis shares quickly."^[6] In 2009, De Gucht denounced statements by Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms promoted AIDS. He describing the remarks as "unacceptable" and added that he could "not understand how an intelligent person can say something like that."^[7]

On 29 May 2009, he candidly classified his former party colleague Jean-Marie Dedecker as a libertarian opportunist in a TV interview on Flemish public television (De Keien van de Wetstraat).^[8]

Controversy[link]

In an interview with the Belgian Flemish public radio VRT about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the September 2010 Washington talks, De Gucht expressed his scepticism about the process stating:

"Do not underestimate the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill. That is the best organised lobby, you shouldn't underestimate the grip it has on American politics – no matter whether it's Republicans or Democrats.^[9]

He continued

"Don't underestimate the opinion … of the average Jew outside Israel. There is indeed a belief – it's difficult to describe it otherwise – among most Jews that they are right. And a belief is something that's difficult to counter with rational arguments. And it's not so much whether these are religious Jews or not. Lay Jews also share the same belief that they are right. So it is not easy to have, even with moderate Jews, a rational discussion about what is actually happening in the Middle East. It's a very emotional issue."^[10]

^[11]

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) expressed outrage, describing the remarks as antisemitic and demanding an apology and a retraction from De Gucht.^[12] De Gucht responded with the following statement:

"I gave an interview yesterday to the Flemish radio. I was also asked about the Middle East peace talks. I gave my personal point of view. I regret that the comments that I made have been interpreted in a sense that I did not intend. I did not mean in any possible way to cause offense or stigmatize the Jewish Community. I want to make clear that anti-Semitism has no place in today’s world and is fundamentally against our European values."^[13]

De Gucht's remarks made it on the list of the Simon Wiesenthal Center of the "2010 Top Ten Anti-Semitic Slurs".^[14]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Karel De Gucht

• Karel De Gucht Official Media Gallery
• Official website
• Since February 2010 European Commissioner for Trade
• 2009–2010 European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid

References[link]

• Brusselsjournal.com

v t e Barroso Commission I (2004–2009) Joaquín Almunia · Catherine Ashton6 · José Manuel Barroso1 · Jacques Barrot2 · Joe Borg · Karel De Gucht9 · Stavros Dimas · Benita Ferrero-Waldner · Ján Figeľ10 · Franco Frattini2, 5 · Mariann Fischer Boel · Dalia Grybauskaitė7 · Danuta Hübner8 · Siim Kallas2 · László Kovács · Neelie Kroes · Meglena Kuneva3 · Markos Kyprianou4 · Peter Mandelson6 · Charlie McCreevy · Louis Michel9 · Leonard Orban3 · Andris Piebalgs · Janez Potočnik · Viviane Reding · Olli Rehn · Paweł Samecki8 · Maroš Šefčovič10 · Algirdas Šemeta7 · Vladimír Špidla · Antonio Tajani2, 5 · Androulla Vassiliou4 · Günter Verheugen2 · Margot Wallström2 1 = President. 2 = Vice President. 3 = Served from 1 January 2007. 4 = Vassiliou replaced Kyprianou on 3 March 2008. 5 = Tajani replaced Frattini on 18 June 2008. 6 = Ashton replaced Mandelson on 3 October 2008. 7 = Šemeta replaced Grybauskaitė on 1 July 2009. 8 = Samecki replaced Hübner on 4 July 2009. 9 = De Gucht replaced Michel on 17 July 2009. 10 = Šefčovič replaced Figeľ on 1 October 2009.

v t e Barroso Commission II (since 2010) Joaquín Almunia2 · László Andor · Catherine Ashton2 · Michel Barnier · José Manuel Barroso1 · Dacian Cioloş · John Dalli · Maria Damanaki · Štefan Füle · Máire Geoghegan-Quinn · Kristalina Georgieva · Karel De Gucht · Johannes Hahn · Connie Hedegaard · Siim Kallas2 · Neelie Kroes2 · Janusz Lewandowski · Cecilia Malmström · Günther Oettinger · Andris Piebalgs · Janez Potočnik · Viviane Reding2 · Olli Rehn · Antonio Tajani2 · Androulla Vassiliou · Maroš Šefčovič2 · Algirdas Šemeta 1 = President. 2 = Vice President.

v t e European Commissioners for Trade Rey • Deniau • Dahrendorf • Soames • Haferkamp • De Clercq • Andriessen • Brittan • Lamy • Hübner • Mandelson • Ashton • Ferrero-Waldner • De Gucht

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Patrick Yvonne Hugo Dewael, (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɑtrɪk dəˈwa.l], born 13 October 1955) in Lier, Belgium is a liberal Belgian politician. He is a member of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats, or Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (VLD). He is the nephew of the late liberal minister Herman Vanderpoorten and the cousin of Marleen Vanderpoorten, who also served as Flemish minister of Education in the government led by Dewael. He obtained a degree in law and notariat from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium)

Political career[link]

He was first elected to the Belgian Parliament in 1985. From 1985 to 1992 Dewael served for the PVV as Flemish minister of Culture in the governments led by Gaston Geens (II, III and IV). After the defeat of the liberals at the 1992 elections, Dewael served as an opposition MP until the liberals regained power in 1999.

He was Minister-President of the regional government of Flanders from 1999 to 2003. After the Federal elections of 2003, Dewael resigned as Minister-President in order to serve as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior in the Belgian Federal government led by Guy Verhofstadt.

When Kurdish terrorist Fehriye Erdal was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment by a Bruges court on 28 February 2006, it turned out that she had shaken off the Belgian secret service, which had had the responsibility of following her since 23 February 2006 (Erdal had been under house arrest since 2000). Both the Minister of Justice, Laurette Onkelinx, and the Minister of the Interior, Patrick Dewael came under fire for this incident.

He was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Interior in the Leterme I Government, which took office on 20 March 2008.^[1] On 31 December 2008, he became President of the Chamber of Representatives. He was replaced as Interior Minister by Guido De Padt.

Private life[link]

Patrick Dewael lives in Tongeren, a town of which he is also the mayor.

Patrick Dewael is married to Marleen Van Doren, with whom he has three children. On 24 August 2005 Dewael released a press communiqué in which he announced that he was leaving his wife for VRT journalist Greet Op de Beeck.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Patrick Dewael (Official website)

Amelia Andersdotter
Member of the European Parliament for Sweden
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2011
Personal details
Born	(1987-08-30) 30 August 1987 (age 24) Enköping, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Political party	Pirate Party (Greens–EFA)
Website	ameliaandersdotter.eu

Amelia Andersdotter (born 30 August 1987, Enköping) is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), elected on the Pirate Party list in the 2009 election.

Andersdotter was listed as number two on the party's ballot behind Christian Engström, and her vote was insufficient to gain a seat in June 2009. However, she became eligible for one on 1 December 2009, when the Treaty of Lisbon took effect and Sweden gained two seats in the European Parliament.^[1][2]

Because some of the EU countries had not chosen their additional MEPs at the moment the Lisbon treaty went into effect, the 18 new MEPs could not take their seats immediately, including Andersdotter. A treaty change was required, and it took about two years to get all member states to sign the treaty change. With Belgium, the last country to sign, completing the process in November 2011, the European parliament is now able to take in its new members.^[3]

Andersdotter lived in Lund and was studying mathematics at Lund University when elected as an Member of the European Parliament.^[4] From 2007 until she resigned in March 2010 she worked as the international coordinator of Young Pirate, the Pirate Party's youth organization.

In an interview with a Lund University student newspaper, Andersdotter announced that if elected, she would consider donating part of her MEP salary to Attac, Ordfront, and Amnesty International.^[4]

She currently lives in Belgium, working as a MEP for the Pirate Party.

As the treaty change required to allow the Lisbon MEPs to join the Parliament has been signed by all member states, she became inaugurated in December 2011, being the youngest member of the current parliament.^{[5][6] [7]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amelia Andersdotter

• Stenskott (Swedish), a public policy blog Andersdotter contributes to
• Official web site