Didier Reynders

Didier Reynders     (politician)
Born	6 August 1958
Nationality	Belgian
Alma mater	University of Liège
Member of	European Council on Foreign Relations
Belgian FM/European Commissioner for Justice accused of corruption  European Commissioner for Justice In office 1 December 2019 - Present  Belgium/Minister of Foreign Affairs In office 6 December 2011 - 30 November 2019  Belgium/Minister of Defence In office 9 December 2018 - 30 November 2019  Belgium/Minister of Finance In office 12 July 1999 - 6 December 2011

Didier Reynders is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) serving as European Commissioner for Justice since 2019. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of the House in 1992. He was a minister without interruption from 1999 to 2019, until resigning to become Belgian European Commissioner.

He served as Federal Minister of Finance until December 2011 in six different governments, then Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade Foreign Affairs and European Affairs in two governments. Following the government crisis of December 2018, he was also appointed to the post of Minister of Defense until November 2019.

In 2012, Didier Reynders visited the Saudi Prince Nayef Al Shaalan, sentenced since 2007 by France to ten years in prison in absentia for cocaine trafficking, and suspected of links with terrorist organizations in Syria. Didier Reynders refused to answer RTBF journalists' questions about this affair.

Early life and education

Reynders was born in Liège as the youngest in a family of three children. He studied law at the University of Liège.

Early career

Reynders began his career as a lawyer in 1981, before serving as Chairman of the National Railway Company of Belgium from 1986 to 1991.

Political career

Minister of Finance, 1999–2011

Reynders served as Minister of Finance from 1999 to 2011; in 2002, he chaired the G-10 which is the meeting of the main creditor states (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States).

Reynders became Deputy Prime Minister in 2004, in the government of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. He was the chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur from 2004 to 2011.

Reynders led the MR to a victory in the 2007 general elections, with the MR becoming the largest Francophone party of Belgium. The King appointed Reynders as informateur, i.e. to start off the informal coalition talks for a new federal government.

Stalemate followed the 2010 general election. The King appointed a succession of people to negotiate a coalition from June 2010 onwards, but none succeeded in the task of forming a new government during the following seven months. Reynders was appointed informateur by the King on 2 February 2011. He reported on 16 February 2011, and his brief was extended through 1 March 2011.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2011–2019

Following the appointment of Elio Di Rupo as new Belgian Prime Minister in December 2011, Reynders became Minister of Foreign Affairs. During his tenure, Belgium was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (2019–2020), as well as of the United Nations Human Rights Council (2016–2018).

Minister of Defence, 2018–2019

After the ruling coalition collapsed in 2019, Reynders also held responsibility for the defense portfolio. Following an inconclusive election in May 2019, King Philippe asked Reynders and Johan Vande Lanotte to look into the conditions required for forming a coalition government.

European Commissioner for Justice, 2019–present

In the summer of 2019, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel put Reynders forward as the Belgian nominee for the incoming European Commission. President-elect Ursula von der Leyen nominated him for the Justice portfolio. Reynders did his hearing at the European Parliament in September 2019 and his nomination was approved by a large majority. He took office on 1 December 2019.

Other activities

International organisations

• African Development Bank (AfDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (1999–2011)
• Asian Development Bank (ADB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (1999–2011)
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (1999–2011)

Non-profit organisations

• European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Member

Controversies

In April 2017, Belgium voted in favour of the entry of Saudi Arabia, yet considered one of the most retrograde countries on the issue of women's rights, in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. This decision raised controversy and questions about the role of Reynders.

In 2019, Reynders announced his candidacy to succeed Thorbjørn Jagland as Secretary General of the Council of Europe; the position instead went to Marija Pejčinović Burić.

In September 2019, Nicolas Ullens de Schooten, former agent of the Sûreté de l’État - the Belgian intelligence service - accused Didier Reynders of having received bribes in public procurement cases. With the help of his right-hand man, he is said to have laundered the money received by selling works of art at a premium price or by carrying out real estate transactions, but also by using front companies. He also cited corrupters, such as arms dealers, and a candidate for the Congolese presidential election (see below). The investigation was closed a few days later.

Criminal investigation

In September 2019, Belgian police investigated allegations of corruption and money-laundering against Reynders, relating to the construction of the Belgian embassy building in Kinshasa, the lease of a federal police HQ and other matters. The investigation was dropped soon after.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2022	2 June 2022	5 June 2022	US Washington DC Mandarin Oriental Hotel	The 68th Bilderberg Meeting, held in Washington DC, after an unprecedented two year hiatus during which a lot of the Bilderberg regulars were busy managing COVID-19
Bilderberg/2023	18 May 2023	21 May 2023	Portugal Lisbon Pestana Palace Hotel	The 69th Bilderberg Meeting, held in Lisbon, with 128 guests on the official list. The earliest in the year since 2009.
Brussels Forum/2006	2006	2006	Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and NATO-close German Marshall Fund.
Brussels Forum/2012	23 March 2012	24 March 2012	Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA-close German Marshall Fund.
Brussels Forum/2014	21 March 2014	24 March 2014	Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA-close German Marshall Fund. The theme in 2014 was A World in Transition
Brussels Forum/2015	20 March 2015	22 March 2015	Germany North Rhine-Westphalia Cleve	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA-close German Marshall Fund. The 2015 main theme was (R)evolution.
Brussels Forum/2017	23 March 2017	25 March 2017	Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA-close German Marshall Fund. The overarching theme was "‘End of Complacency – Era of Action?"
Brussels Forum/2018	8 March 2018	10 March 2018	Belgium Brussels	Annual 3 day spooky get-together of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and German Marshall Fund. Discussed the "Fight for Economic Equality".
Munich Security Conference/2019	15 February 2019	17 February 2019	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 55th Munich Security Conference, which included "A Spreading Plague" aimed at "identifying gaps and making recommendations to improve the global system for responding to deliberate, high consequence biological events."

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