Louis Michel (born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From 2009 to 2019, he was a Member of the European Parliament. Michel is a prominent member of the French-speaking liberal party, the Mouvement Réformateur. He is the father of Charles Michel, the previous Prime Minister of Belgium and current President of the European Council. Family roots The Michel family comes from the Flemish town Hoegaarden, just across the 1963 official linguistic border and the frontier between the present (since 1994) provinces of Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant. There, it has been nicknamed from the XIXth century onward as the ‘Sellekes’. Louis Michel "went to school in Hoegaarden and still speaks perfectly the local dialect". His family moved from Hoegaarden to Zétrud-Lumay in 1955. Early professional career From 1968 to 1978, before dedicating his life to his political career, Michel taught English, Dutch and German in the Provincial School of Jodoigne, a rural town 25 miles from Brussels. Political career From 1967 to 1977, Michel was chairman of the Young Liberals in the district of Nivelles. Then he became alderman in Jodoigne from 1977 to 1983, "secretary-general" of the Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL) political party from 1980 to 1982 and chairman of the PRL from 1982 to 1990 and from 1995 to 1999.

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Louis Michel (born 2 September 1947) is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. From 2009 to 2019, he was a Member of the European Parliament. Michel is a prominent member of the French-speaking liberal party, the Mouvement Réformateur. He is the father of Charles Michel, the previous Prime Minister of Belgium and current President of the European Council.