Pierre Charles José Marie, Count Harmel (16 March 1911 – 15 November 2009) was a Belgian lawyer, Christian Democratic politician and diplomat. Harmel served as the

prime minister of Belgium german: Premierminister von Belgien , insignia = State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Coat of arms , insigniaalt = , flag = Government ...

from 1965 to 1966.

Early life

He was born in

Uccle Uccle () or Ukkel () is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. In common with all of Brussels' municipalities, it is legally bilingual (French–Dutch). It is generally considered an affluent area of the city an ...

, son of father Charles Harmel and mother Eusibie André.Pierre Harmel (1911–2009)
– website ODIS (''

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. '' Afrikaans'' ...

'') He 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 ...

(

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 fro ...

), where he obtained the titles of

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

and

Master of Social Science A Master of Social Science (MSocSc, MSSc or MSS) is a master's degree which has a number of different meanings dependent upon the education system in question. Europe In Finland and Sweden, where the university degree nomenclatura is simply bas ...

in 1933. During his studies, he was active in the Association catholique belge, of which he became the chairman in 1938. Mobilized in 1940, he took part in the 18 days Campaign. In 1947, he was appointed professor of Law at the University of

Political career

Early political career

Member of the PSC-CVP since its creation in 1945, Harmel was elected deputy for the first time in the parliamentary elections of 17 February 1946. He would keep his seat without interruption until 1971. Harmel represented Belgium at the fourth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1949. He subsequently was member of several governments in the 1950s and 1960s.

School War

During his period as Minister of Education (8 June 1950 until 22 April 1954), Harmel increased the wages of teachers in private (i.e. Catholic) schools and introduced laws linking the subsidies for private schools to the number of pupils. These measures were perceived by the secularists (i.e. the anti-clerical Liberals and Socialists) as a declaration of war. When the 1954 elections brought to power a coalition of Socialists and Liberals, the new Education Minister, Leo Collard, immediately set out to reverse the measures taken by his predecessor, sparking mass protests by the Catholic bloc. A compromise was eventually found by the next government (a Catholic minority government led by Gaston Eyskens), and the "School War" was concluded by 6 November 1958 School Pact. André Molitor was one of the chief architects of the school pact.

Minister of Justice, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Harmel was Minister of Justice in the second government led by

Gaston Eyskens Gaston François Marie, viscount Eyskens (1 April 1905 – 3 January 1988) was a Christian democratic politician and prime minister of Belgium. He was also an economist and member of the Belgian Christian Social Party (CVP-PSC). He served thr ...

(23 June 1958 – 6 November 1958), and then Minister of Culture (6 November 1958 – 3 September 1960) and Minister of the Civil Service (3 September 1960 – 25 April 1961) in the third Eyskens cabinet. Prime Minister of Belgium from 28 July 1965 until 19 March 1966, Harmel led a coalition comprising Christian Democrats and Socialists. Finally, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Liberal-Christian Democratic coalition led by Paul Vanden Boeynants (19 March 1966 – 7 February 1968). As Foreign Minister he chaired the opening meeting of the enlargement negotiations between the EEC and the four applicants for Community membership in June 1970. Indeed, Harmel's opening statement to the enlargement conference has since formed the basis of the Community opening position for future enlargement discussions. Pierre Harmel - 36092X5X22

As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he submitted a report titled "Future Tasks of the Alliance" to the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

council of ministers. The report, which was approved by the council in December 1967, contained the so-called "Harmel Doctrine". It advocated a strong defence combined with good diplomatic relations with the countries of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republi ...

. The Harmel Doctrine helped to pave the way for the East-West détente of the early 1970s, which led to the 1975 Helsinki Summit and the creation of the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

. Harmel himself visited several Warsaw Pact countries.

Later career

After 25 years in the Chamber of Deputies, Harmel was Senator from 1971 until 1977. He was made a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. I ...

from 1973. In 1988, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at the

Catholic University of Louvain The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and in 1991, was raised into the

Belgian nobility The Belgian nobility comprises Belgian individuals or families recognized as noble with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of Belgium. The Belgian constitution states that no specific privileges are attached to the nobility. History ...

King Baudouin Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his dea ...

with the hereditary title of '' Count Harmel'' (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: graaf Harmel).

Personal life

Harmel was married to Marie-Claire Van Gehuchten from 22 May 1946. Together they had 6 children, four sons and two daughters. Harmel died on 15 November 2009 at the age of 98. His wife died in 2018.

Honours

* :

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. * : Minister of state, by Royal Decree. * : Member of the Royal Academy. * : Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold. * : Grand Officer in the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgium ...

. * Knight Grand Cross in the

Order of Saints Michael and George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in hono ...

. * Commander in the National Order of the Leopard.

Bibliography

*Vincent Dujardin, ''Pierre Harmel'', Brussels, Le Cri 2004.

References

External links

Pierre Harmel on website of Belgian Federal Government

The NATO Archives' Subject Files on the Harmel Report
from Parallel History Project * Weber, Bruce. (18 November 2009
"Pierre Harmel, Belgian Who Helped Reshape NATO, Dies at 98"
''The New York Times''.
Pierre Harmel
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ODIS - Online Database for Intermediary Structures

Archives of Pierre Harmel
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ODIS - Online Database for Intermediary Structures
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Harmel, Pierre 1911 births 2009 deaths Belgian prisoners of war in World War II 20th-century Belgian lawyers Counts of Belgium Belgian Roman Catholics Centre démocrate humaniste politicians Christian Social Party (Belgium, defunct) politicians 20th-century Belgian politicians Foreign ministers of Belgium Harmel Doctrine People from Uccle Presidents of the Senate (Belgium) Prime Ministers of Belgium University of Liège alumni Walloon people Belgian Ministers of Justice Ministers of Education of Belgium Grand Officers of the Order of Leopold II Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Belgian Ministers of State Belgian Christian democrats