Gérard M.J. Deprez (; born 13 August 1943 in Noville,

Bastogne Bastogne (; ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogne, Longvilly, Noville, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardi ...

) is a Belgian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was the president of the Walloon Christian Social Party (PSC) from 1981 to 1996. In 1998 he left the PSC and founded the

Citizens' Movement for Change Citizens' Movement for Change (, , 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 Christian Social Party (PSC) from 1982 to 1995. He l ...

(MCC). He was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

representing the

French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...

for six terms from 1984 to 2009 and again from 2014 until 2019. He is the Delegate General of the

European Democratic Party The European Democratic Party (EDP; French: ''Parti démocrate européen'', PDE), also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration. Within the European Parliament, its MEPs form th ...

Life and political career

Deprez studied philosophy, language and literature and added postgraduate studies in sociology. He worked as an assistant lecturer at the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

from 1966 to 1974 and did his doctorate at the same time. Subsequently, he went into politics, serving as adviser in the office of the Minister for French Culture for one year. Then he became political adviser to the president of the PSC. In 1979 he became the head of the Deputy Prime Minister's office. In 1981 he was elected president of the PSC and stayed for 15 years. In this capacity, he was a member of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

's policy bureau, as well. In 1984 he was elected to the European Parliament for the first time. In 1995, he was conferred the honorary title of

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

.MEP's biography at the European Parliament's site
Retrieved on 29 January 2013. In the same year, he announced his retirement as party leader. His successor was, to Deprez' discontent,

Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb Baron Charles-Ferdinand Nicolas Marie Pierre Nothomb (3 May 1936 – 19 April 2023) was a Belgian politician. Family and early life Nothomb was born in Brussels in 1936, the thirteenth and youngest child of the writer and politician Pierre Not ...

. Deprez proposed to confederate the PSC with the Liberal Reformist Party (PRL), but could not convince his party colleagues. Therefore, he was edged out of the party and founded the MCC in 1998. He immediately forged an alliance of his new party with the PRL and the regionalist Democratic Front of the Francophones (FDF), which became the

Reformist Movement The Reformist Movement (, , MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest par ...

(MR) in 2002 and of which Deprez has since been a vice-chairman. In 2004 he left the European Parliament's group of the

and joined the

and the parliamentary group

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

(ALDE). He served in the European Parliament's

Committee on Budgets The Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is a committee of the European Parliament. It has 41 members plus 39 substitute members. The committee's current chair is Jean Arthuis, who has held this position since 7 July 2014.Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

and a member of the Delegation to the EU-

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Joint Parliamentary Committee. Deprez was the winner of the Justice and Civil Liberties Award, MEP Awards 2017.

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deprez, Gerard 1943 births Living people People from Bastogne Walloon politicians Ministers of state of Belgium MEPs for Belgium 1994–1999 MEPs for Belgium 1999–2004 MEPs for Belgium 2004–2009 MEPs for Belgium 2014–2019 European Democratic Party European Democratic Party MEPs