Jacques Poos

The Hon. Dr. Jacques F. Poos

Jacques Poos (born 3 June 1935) is a Luxembourgian politician.

Born in 1953 in Luxembourg Dr. Jacques F. Poos is a trained economist and became a doctor of economics in 1961, when he graduated from the University of Lausanne. He is a long-time member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party. In 2003 he received an honorary doctor of law degree from Panteion University of Athens, Greece. Between 1964 andn 1976 he was director and editor in Chief of the daily newspaper “Tageblatt” in Esch-sur-Alzette. In the same period he also became a member of the town council of Esch-sur-Alzette.

In July 1976 he was appointed as Minister of Finance. As the foreign minister of Luxembourg he held Presidency of the Council of the European Union for three half-year terms in 1985, 1991 and 1997. He was Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development, first in Jacques Santer’s  (from 1984 to 1996), then in Jean-Claude Junckers’s cabinets (from 1986 to 1999).

In 1991 he was one of the negotiators of the Brioni Agreement that ended the ten-day war in Slovenia. In May of that year, upon disembarking from an airplane en route to beginning negotiations, he declared, "The hour of Europe has dawned."

In 1999 Dr. Poos left the government  and was elected as a Member of European Parliament, where he sat on the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defense Policy, and was the draftsman for Cyprus’ accession into the EU.

He is one of the most articulate defenders of a decentralized Europe, and against the pro-centralization attempts to transfer the seat of the European Parliament from Strasbourg to Brussels. In an interview on 16 April 2004, he answers the question of the young pro-Brussels journalist:

"C’est une question récurrente qui continuera à être discutée au niveau politique, mais je pense qu’il ne faut pas la regarder trop à travers le prisme du budget. Ce qu’on n’a jamais fait, c’est calculer le coût d’une centralisation extrême, de mettre tout sur un même lieu – quelqu’un dira, une «ghettoïsation». Aujourd’hui on a quand même, avec Strasbourg, une visibilité différente du Parlement européen, que tout le monde considère différent de Bruxelles. .... Et le fait que le Parlement européen siège à Strasbourg s’explique historiquement et il lui donne une certaine indépendance: ceux de Bruxelles et ceux de Strasbourg, Je pense qu’il faut absolument garder cela également à l’avenir et le défendre vis-à-vis de ceux qui n’ont pas, peut-être, suivi l’histoire européenne depuis la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Je pense que la décentralisation dans une Union européenne a un sens. Il ne faut pas tout mettre au même endroit, même si matériellement ce serait possible, mais ce n’est pas possible." Interview de Jacques F. Poos: les trois lieux de travail du Parlement européen (Sanem, 16 avril 2004)

In 2004 he retired from political life, but he remains active as non-executive director in the boards of different national and international institutions and companies.

Dr. Jacques F. Poos is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.

External Links

• Interview with Dr. Jacques F. Poos
• Interview with Dr. Jacques F. Poos
• Video interviews with Dr. Jacques F. Poos
• Dr. Jacques F. Poos - Global Foreign Policy Today, an unconventional approach

See also

• Juncker-Poos Ministry (1995–1999)

References

Political offices
Preceded by Raymond Vouel	Minister for Finances 1976 – 1979	Succeeded by Jacques Santer
Preceded by Colette Flesch	Deputy Prime Minister 1984 – 1999	Succeeded by Lydie Polfer
	Minister for Foreign Affairs 1984 – 1999
	Minister for the Economy 1984 – 1999	Succeeded by Robert Goebbels
Preceded by Marc Fischbach	Minister for Defence 1989 – 1994	Succeeded by Alex Bodry
	Minister for the Police Force 1989 – 1994