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 The prime minister of Belgium (; ; ) or the premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government of Belgium, and the most powerful person in Belgian politics. The first head of government in Belgian history was Henri van der Noot in 179 ...

from 1965 to 1966, leading a centre-left cabinet.

Early life

He was born in

Uccle Uccle (French language, French, ) or Ukkel (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the southern part of the region, it ...

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

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

'') He studied law at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French. History The university was foun ...

(

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 ...

), where he obtained the titles of

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

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

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 Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

, 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 democracy, Christian democratic politician and prime minister of Belgium. He was also an economist and member of the Belgian Christian Social Party (Belg ...

(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 Paul Emile François Henri Vanden Boeynants (, ; 22 May 1919 – 9 January 2001) was a Belgian politician.
Rulers. Retrieved 30 August 201 ...

(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

Harmel Doctrine

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

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

. 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 a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

. 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 designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

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 List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, 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 ...

by King Baudouin with the hereditary title of '' Count Harmel'' ( Dutch: 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 (, ''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 awarded during World ...

. * : 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 Belgiu ...

. * Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Saints Michael and George. * 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 The Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security (PHP) is an open source website reference compilation, research project, and analysis nexus sparked by the progressive increase in the declassification of NATO and Soviet bloc documents related t ...

* 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 Humanist Democratic Centre politicians Christian Social Party (Belgium, 1945) 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 politicians Ministers of justice of Belgium 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 Ministers of state of Belgium Belgian Christian democrats