Édouard Joseph Mercier (1 April 1799 - 18 January 1870) was a Belgian politician of liberal tendencies. He is the uncle of
Cardinal Mercier
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...
. He served several terms as
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
; first was 1840–1841, second was 1843–1845; Third term was 1855–1857. He was appointed Minister of State in 1845.
Biography
Mercier was born in the Walloon city of
Braine-l'Alleud to register controller Hubert Mercier and Marie-Josèphe François. He married Jeanne Mastraeten.
Mercier had served in the capacities of:
*clerk at the Customs Service (1819);
*inspector of excise duties (1827);
*Inspector of Taxes (1830);
*Chief Inspector of Taxes in the province of Brabant (1831);
*Chief Inspector at the Central Administration (1833-1839);
*Director of the Central Administration of the direct taxation, cadastre, customs and excise (1839-1840).
He had begun a political career. In 1837, he was a liberal (and from 1843 Catholic) member of parliament for the district of Nivelles and held this office until 1857. In 1859 he was again a member of parliament until 1863.
He participated in the Unionist ministry of
Peter Decker
Peter Decker is a fictional character in a series of mystery novels by Faye Kellerman. A lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Decker is assisted in solving crimes by his Orthodox Jewish wife Rina Lazarus.
When he meets Rina, a ...
as
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
(1855-1857). There is supposed to represent liberal opinion, but his liberalism was very moderate. At the time of the unrest that followed the vote of the "convents of law" (May–June 1857), he argued with Alphonse Nothomb the thesis that we should not give in to pressure from the street. After the local elections of October 1857, which was a defeat for the Catholics, he opposed Nothomb with the resignation of De Decker, but could not prevent it.
References
Bibliography
*C. HOYAUX-BAILLY, Contribution à l'étude de la vie politique belge. Essai de déterminantion de l'opinion politique d'Edouard Joseph Mercier, représentant de Nivelles et ministre des finances, licentiaatsthesis (onuitgegeven), ULB, 1954.
*Jean-Luc DE PAEPE & Christiane RAINDORF-GERARD, Le Parlement belge, 1831–1894, Brussel, 1996.
*Valmy FEAUX, Histoire politique du Brabant Wallon. Du Duché de Brabant à l'éclosion démocratique (1919), l'Harmattan-Academia, Louvain-la-Neuve, 2014.
External links
Edouard Mercieri
ODIS - Online Database for Intermediary Structures
1799 births
1870 deaths
19th-century Belgian politicians
Finance ministers of Belgium
{{Belgium-politician-stub