Jean Rey (15 July 1902 – 19 May 1983) 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 ...

Liberal politician who served as the second

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...

from 1967 to 1970. He served as

European Commissioner for External Relations The European Commissioner for External Relations was a member of the European Commission with responsibility over the Commissions external representation in the world and the European Union's (EU) Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The responsibility ...

from 1958 to 1967. The 1983–1984 academic year at the

College of Europe The College of Europe (french: Collège d'Europe) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with its main campus in Bruges, Belgium and a second campus in Warsaw, Poland. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 by leading ...

was named in his honour.

Early life

Born in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

into a Protestant family, Jean Rey studied law at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

, where he obtained a PhD in 1926. He began his career as a barrister at the Court of Appeal in Liège. His commitment to the

Walloon Movement The Walloon Movement (french: Mouvement wallon) is an umbrella term for all Belgium, Belgian political movements that either assert the existence of a Walloons, Walloon identity and of Wallonia and/or defend French culture and language within Belg ...

drew him into politics. He joined the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

and was elected city councillor of Liège in 1935. In 1939, he won a seat in the

Belgian Chamber of Representatives The Chamber of Representatives (Dutch: , french: link=no, Chambre des représentants, german: link=no, Abgeordnetenkammer) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered ...

. In the wake of World War II, he was one of the most vocal opponents of the "policy of independence" (neutrality) supported by successive Belgian governments and

King Leopold III Leopold III (3 November 1901 – 25 September 1983) was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasi ...

. He was mobilised as a reserve officer in 1940 and served during the

Battle of Belgium The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (french: Campagne des 18 jours, nl, Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the greater Battle of France, an Military o ...

. He was captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the conflict as a prisoner of war, being interned in

Oflag XD Oflag X-D was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp for officers ('' Offizierlager'') located in Fischbek, a ''Stadtteil'' of Hamburg, Germany. Camp history The camp was established in May 1941. On 22 June 1943, all reserve officers of th ...

near

Fischbeck Fischbeck (Elbe) is a village and a former municipality in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Wust-Fischbeck Wust-Fischbeck is a municipality in the district of Stendal, in ...

, where he was member of the clandestine

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

L'Obstinée.Jean Rey (1902–1983)

Career after World War II

After the war, he became an advocate of the federalisation of

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 ...

. As early as 1947 he promoted, together with five other members of Parliament (among whom

Julien Lahaut Julien Lahaut (6 September 1884 – 18 August 1950) was a Belgian politician and communist activist. He became leader of the Communist Party of Belgium after the First World War. A dissident during the German occupation of 1940–44, he becam ...

), a bill on the organisation of a federal state. If passed, the new

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

would have transformed Belgium into a ''

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

'' consisting of two ''States'',

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

and

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

, and the federal region of

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 ...

. However, a majority in the Belgian Parliament refused to take the proposal into consideration. Rey was Minister of Reconstruction from 1949 until 1950, and Minister of Economy from 1954 until 1958. As such, he was involved both in the early development of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

and in the negotiations that led to the creation 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) and the

European Atomic Energy Community The European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) is an international organisation established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 with the original purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, by developing nucl ...

(EAEC). Member of the commission (

Hallstein Commission The Hallstein Commission is the European Commission that held office from 7 January 1958 to 30 June 1967. Its president was Walter Hallstein and held two separate mandates. Work It was the first commission on the European Economic Community and ...

) of the CEE from 1958 until 1967, responsible for external relations, he played an important role in the negotiations of the

Kennedy Round The Kennedy Round was the sixth session of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) multilateral trade negotiations held between 1964 and 1967 in Geneva, Switzerland. Congressional passage of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act in 1962 authorized the ...

(1964–1967). In 1967, he succeeded

Walter Hallstein Walter Hallstein (17 November 1901 – 29 March 1982) was a German academic, diplomat and statesman who was the first President of the European Commission, President of the European Commission, Commission of the European Economic Community ...

as President of the European Commission (he was the first President of the Commission of the merged CSCE, CEE and EAEC). Still a convinced federalist, he undertook to reinforce the Community institutions. He won increased powers for 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 ...

and advocated its election by universal suffrage. During his presidency, he oversaw the completion of the

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up ...

(1968). He also played an important role the Summit of The Hague in 1969, where the European leaders decided to relaunch European integration with two new initiatives: on the one hand,

Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. There are three stages of the EMU, each of which consists of progr ...

(EMU), and on the other hand, European Political Cooperation (EPC), which foreshadow the euro and the

Common Foreign and Security Policy The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, whic ...

of the European Union today. It was also at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

that France gave up its resistance against the accession of the United Kingdom to the EEC. Finally, in 1970, the last year of this mandate, Rey won the European governments' support for his proposal to give the Community "own resources". This meant that the EEC no longer depended exclusively on contributions by the member states, but could complete these with revenues from customs duties, levies on agricultural products from outside the Community, in addition to a share of the VAT revenue. From 1964 until 1974, Rey was chairman of the board of the

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

. He presided the over

European Movement The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History The origins of the ...

from 1974 to 1978 and was member of the

Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe The Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe is a public-utility and independent institution, created in 1978 by Jean Monnet and Henri Rieben, and dedicated to the conservation of Monnet's archives. Based in Lausanne since its creation, the foundati ...

. In 1979, he became member of the first

elected by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

. Jean Rey also remained active in Belgian politics. He became the ''éminence grise'' of the French-speaking liberals who broke away from the unitary

Party for Freedom and Progress The Party for Freedom and Progress ( nl, Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang; french: Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès; german: Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt, PVV-PLP) was a liberal political party in Belgium which existed from 1961 unti ...

to form the Parti Réformateur et Libéral Wallon (PRLW) in 1976. Jean Rey died in his native city Liège. In the European Quarter of

, there is now a square named after him. A street in the 15e arrondissement of Paris also bears his name.

References

Sources

Jean Rey
(EU)

(Strasbourg, 20 September 1967) , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Jean 1902 births 1983 deaths Belgian European Commissioners Belgian Ministers of State Belgian Protestants Politicians from Liège Presidents of the European Commission University of Liège alumni Walloon movement activists Belgian prisoners of war in World War II Liberal Party (Belgium) politicians Belgian people of Swiss descent European Commissioners 1967–1970