Jean Rey (politician)
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His Excellency Jean Rey |
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|---|---|
 |
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| 2nd President of the European Commission | |
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In office 2 July 1967 – 30 June 1970 |
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| Vice President | Sicco Mansholt |
| Preceded by | Walter Hallstein |
| Succeeded by | Franco Maria Malfatti |
| European Commissioner for External Relations | |
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In office 7 January 1958 – 2 July 1967 |
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| President | Walter Hallstein |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Edoardo Martino |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jean Philpe Rey 15 July 1902 Liège, Belgium |
| Died | 19 May 1983 (aged 80) Liège, Belgium |
| Resting place |
Brussels Cemetery, Evere, Brussels, Belgium |
| Political party | Liberal Reformist Party (1971–) |
| Other political affiliations |
Party for Freedom and Progress (Before 1971) |
| Alma mater | University of Liège |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Jean Philpe Rey (15 July 1902 – 19 May 1983) was a Belgian politician who served as the 2nd President of the European Commission from 1967 to 1970. He served as European Commissioner for External Relations from 1958 to 1967. The 1983–1984 academic year at the College of Europe was named in his honour.
Born in Liège in a Protestant family, he studied law at the University of Liège, 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 drew him into politics. He joined the Liberal party and was elected city councillor of Liège in 1935. In 1939, he won a seat in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.
In the wake of World War II, he was one of the most vocal opponents of the policy of "independence" (in fact, neutrality) of the Belgian government and Leopold III. Mobilized as reserve officer in 1940, he was captured by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in the Nazi concentration camp Oflag XD (Offizier-Lager; E:officer camp) near Fischbeck, where he was member of the clandestine Masonic Lodge L'Obstinée
After the war, he became an advocate of the federalisation of Belgium. As early as 1947 he promoted, together with five other members of Parliament (among whom Julien Lahaut), a bill on the organisation of a federal state. If passed, the new Constitution would have transformed Belgium into a Confederation consisting of two States, Flanders and Wallonia, and the federal region of Brussels. However, a majority in the Belgian Parliament refused to take the proposal into consideration.
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