Daniel Ducarme (; 8 March 1954,

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

– 28 August 2010) was a Belgian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and former

Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region The minister-president of the Brussels-Capital Region (; ) leads the government of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) The post is appointed for five years a ...

Background and political affiliation

Starting his political career in the Liberal Reformist Party (PRL), Ducarme served as mayor of Thuin in

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

from 1988 to 2000, becoming party president in 1999. In 2000 he moved to

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

in the

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...

and stood for election to the Schaerbeek council. The PRL merged with its centre-right partners to create the Reformist Movement (MR) in 2002, which Ducarme led as president. Ducarme has voiced his support for Rattachism.

Brussels Minister-President

In 2003 he replaced his MR colleague François-Xavier de Donnéa as Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, provoking considerable resentment among parties representing the Flemish-speaking community as he was essentially a monoglot

Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

, unlike his predecessors as Minister-President.

Resignation and succession

Ducarme resigned in 2004 following allegations of improprieties by the newspaper '' L'Avenir'' concerning his tax affairs. He claimed his fiscal status was fine and that he had been "shot in the back" by a member of his own party. He was succeeded as Minister-President by Jacques Simonet and as president of the MR by

Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Reformist Movement, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) that served as List of European Commissioners for Justice and Equality, European Commissioner for Justice until 30 ...

Later career

In 2006, Ducarme proposed to return to politics, wishing to stand in Schaerbeek on the MR list in the October 2006 elections, but the MR did not follow suit and excluded him from its list. In apparent compensation he was appointed by Reynders to represent the MR as a roving ambassador abroad. Ducarme died of cancer on 28 August 2010.

Notes

External links

Biographical note at the Belgian Parliament website
1954 births 2010 deaths Deaths from cancer in Belgium Liberal Reformist Party (Belgium) politicians Members of the 45th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 46th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 47th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 48th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 51st Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the 52nd Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Ministers of state of Belgium Minister-presidents of the Brussels-Capital Region Politicians from Liège Reformist Movement politicians {{Brussels-politician-stub