Antoinette Spaak (27 June 192828 August 2020) was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
politician and leading figure within Francophone and
regionalist politics in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. She was born into a noted political family and entered politics as part of the regionalist
Democratic Front of Francophones
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
(, FDF) in 1972. She held the presidency of the FDF from 1977 to 1982 and later advocated conciliation between Francophone centrist political parties. This brought the FDF into an electoral coalition ahead of the
1999 election and paved the way for its absorption into the
Reformist Movement
The Reformist Movement (french: Mouvement Réformateur, MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium. MR is traditionally a conservative-liberal party, but it also contains social-liberal factions.
The party is in coalition as pa ...
(, MR) in 2002. Spaak held various political offices in Belgium and the
European Communities
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...
until retiring from politics in 2009.
Early life
Spaak was born in the
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
suburb of
Etterbeek
Etterbeek ( French: ; Dutch: ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the municipalities of Auderghem, the City of Brussels, Ixelles, Schaerbeek, Wolu ...
in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
on 27 June 1928 into
a noted political dynasty affiliated with
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
and
socialist parties
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
. Her father was
Paul-Henri Spaak
Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman. Along with Robert Schuman, Alcide De Gasperi and Konrad Adenauer he was a leader in the formation of the i ...
, a socialist politician and statesman who served several terms as
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
and who played a notable role in the early years of the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
(EEC) as well as the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
(NATO). She was also the granddaughter of
Marie Janson
Marie Janson (23 July 1873 – 8 March 1960) was a Belgian politician and the first woman to serve in the Belgian senate. She was a daughter of Paul Janson and Anna-Augustine Amoré.
Born in Brussels, her father Paul Janson was leading memb ...
, the first female member of the
Belgian Senate
The Senate ( nl, Senaat, ; french: Sénat, ; german: Senat) is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parlia ...
, and the grand-niece of
Paul-Émile Janson
Paul-Émile (Paul Emil) Janson (30 May 1872 – 3 March 1944) was a francophone Belgian liberal politician and the prime minister from 1937 to 1938. During the German occupation, he was arrested as a political prisoner and died in a German concen ...
, a liberal politician who would also serve as prime minister.
Paul Janson
Paul Janson (11 April 1840 – 19 April 1913) was a Walloon Belgian liberal politician.Jean Francis ''Mes belges années'' 1974 "Paul Janson ne demeura que quatre ans dans la cité liégeoise car sa famille vint s'établir à Ixelles, rue d ...
, an influential liberal politician, was her great-grandfather.
[ Spaak studied at the ]Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions
* Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970
*Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...
and graduated with a doctorate in philosophy and letters. She was the long-time partner of Étienne Davignon
Étienne, Count Davignon (born 4 October 1932 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Belgian politician, businessman, and former vice-president of the European Commission.
Career
After receiving a Doctorate of Law from the Catholic University of Louvain, ...
, a businessman and European functionary, who had been her father's .
Political career
Spaak entered politics after her father's death in 1972 within the regionalist Democratic Front of Francophones
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
(, FDF), which purported to represent the interests of French-speakers in Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
amid the ongoing political struggles between linguistic groups in Belgium which had emerged in the 1960s. She was elected to the Chamber of Representatives in the 1974 elections and became president of the FDF in 1977, becoming the first woman in Belgian history to lead a political party.[ She retained the FDF leadership until 1982 and presided over much of the party's greatest electoral success in the 1970s, when regionalist sentiment in Brussels was at its height.][ She presided over the Council of the French Community from 1988 to 1992.][ An advocate of European integration, she was voted into the ]European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in its first direct elections from 1979 to 1984 and again from 1994 to 1999. She was granted the honorary title of Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
in 1983.[
As the FDF's electoral fortunes declined in the 1980s, Spaak played a leading role alongside ]Jean Gol
Jean Gol (8 February 1942 – 18 September 1995) was a Belgian politician for the liberal Walloon party Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL). He was a minister, on several occasions, in the Belgian government, including service as Deputy Prime Mini ...
in arguing for conciliation between the FDF and the Liberal Reformist Party (, PRL). This led to an electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...
in 1995 between the FDF and the PRL, which was later joined by the Citizens' Movement for Change
Citizens' Movement for Change (french: Mouvement des Citoyens pour le Changement, MCC) is a Christian-democratic political party in the French Community of Belgium founded by Gérard Deprez in 1998.
Deprez was the leader of the Francophone Christ ...
(, MCC). The FDF-PRL-MCC stood a joint list in the 1999 election, which paved the way for the formation of the Reformist Movement
The Reformist Movement (french: Mouvement Réformateur, MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium. MR is traditionally a conservative-liberal party, but it also contains social-liberal factions.
The party is in coalition as pa ...
(, MR) in 2002 as a single political party. Spaak was a candidate for the MR in the 2007 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2007.
* Electoral calendar 2007
* Elections in 2007
* 2007 United Nations Security Council election
Africa
* 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress
* 2007 Algerian legislative el ...
at the bottom of the list and was not elected. However, she was elected to the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) ( French: ''Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale'', Dutch: ''Parlement van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gew ...
in 2009 but resigned after less than a year.[ The coalition of interests within the MR collapsed in 2011 amid a dispute on the linguistic status of the region dubbed ]Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
The area within Belgium known as Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde encompasses the bilingual— French and Dutch—Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides with the arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and the surrounding Dutch-speaking area of Halle-Vilvo ...
, and the FDF seceded, rebranding as DéFI in 2016.[
]
Death
Spaak died at her home in Brussels, Belgium, on 28 August 2020, aged 92. Sophie Wilmès
Sophie Wilmès (; born 15 January 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 2019 to 2020. She later served as minister of Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Reformist Movement, she is the fir ...
, the incumbent prime minister and MR member, described Spaak on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
as a "''grande dame''". ''L'Echo
''L'Echo'' is a Belgian business newspaper, published by Mediafin and mainly distributed in Wallonia and Brussels. It is the French counterpart of the Flemish daily ''De Tijd'' which is its sister paper.
History and profile
''L'Echo'' originat ...
'' said in its obituary that Spaak had "epitomised a certain idea of feminism, of francophone struggle, and European engagement" during her political career but noted that she had never held a ministerial portfolio.
Books
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spaak, Antoinette
1928 births
2020 deaths
Belgian Ministers of State
MEPs for Belgium 1994–1999
20th-century women MEPs for Belgium
Mouvement Réformateur MEPs
21st-century Belgian politicians
21st-century Belgian women politicians
Reformist Movement politicians
Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni
Members of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
DéFI politicians
Members of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
People from Etterbeek
20th-century Belgian women politicians
20th-century Belgian politicians