Paul-Henri Spaak
| Paul-Henri Spaak | |
|---|---|
Spaak, photographed in 1957.
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| Prime Minister of Belgium | |
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In office 20 March 1947 – 11 August 1949 |
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| Monarch | Charles (Regent) |
| Preceded by | Camille Huysmans |
| Succeeded by | Gaston Eyskens |
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In office 13 March 1946 – 31 March 1946 |
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| Monarch | Charles (Regent) |
| Preceded by | Achille Van Acker |
| Succeeded by | Achille Van Acker |
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In office 15 May 1938 – 22 February 1939 |
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| Monarch | Leopold III |
| Preceded by | Paul-Emile Janson |
| Succeeded by | Hubert Pierlot |
| Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization | |
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In office 16 May 1957 – 21 April 1961 |
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| Preceded by | Hastings Ismay |
| Succeeded by | Dirk Stikker |
| President of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community | |
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In office 23 July 1952 – 1 January 1954 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Alcide De Gasperi |
| President of the United Nations General Assembly | |
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In office 31 March 1946 – 20 March 1947 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Oswaldo Aranha |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Paul-Henri Charles Spaak 25 January 1899 Schaerbeek, Belgium |
| Died | 31 July 1972 (aged 73) Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium |
| Political party |
Belgian Workers' Party Belgian Socialist Party |
| Alma mater | Free University of Brussels |
Paul Henri Charles Spaak (25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian politician and also considered as one of the founding fathers of the European Union.
A member of an influential Belgian political family, Spaak, he served briefly in World War I and rose to prominence after the war as a tennis player and lawyer, becoming famous for his high-profile defence of an Italian student accused of attempting to assassinate the Italy's Crown Prince in 1929. A convinced socialist, Spaak entered politics in 1932 for the Belgian Workers' Party (later the Belgian Socialist Party) and gained his first ministerial portfolio in the government of Paul Van Zeeland in 1935. He became Prime Minister of Belgium in 1938 and held the position until 1939. During World War II, he served as Foreign Minister in the Belgian government in exile under Hubert Pierlot, where he negotiated the foundation of the Benelux Customs Union with the governments of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. After the war, he twice regained the position of Prime Minister, first for under a month in March 1946 and again between 1947 and 1949. He held various further Belgian ministerial portfolios until 1966. He was Belgium's Foreign Minister for 18 years between 1939 and 1966.
Spaak, a convinced supporter of multilateralism, became internationally famous for his support of international cooperation. In 1945, he was chosen to chair the first session of the General Assembly of the new United Nations. A long-running supporter of European integration, Spaak had been an early advocate of customs union and had negotiated the Benelux agreement in 1944. He served as the first President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe between 1949 and 1950 and became the first President of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between 1952 and 1954. In 1955, he was appointed to the so-called Spaak Committee studying the possibility of a common market within Europe and played an influential role in preparing the 1957 Treaty of Rome which established the European Economic Community (EEC). He received the Charlemagne Prize the same year. Between 1957 and 1961, he served as the second Secretary-General of NATO.
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