Wilfried Martens

Wilfried Martens
President of the European People's Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 1990
Preceded by	Jacques Santer
Prime Minister of Belgium
In office 17 December 1981 – 7 March 1992
Monarch	Baudouin
Preceded by	Mark Eyskens
Succeeded by	Jean-Luc Dehaene
In office 3 April 1979 – 31 March 1981
Monarch	Baudouin
Preceded by	Paul Vanden Boeynants
Succeeded by	Mark Eyskens
Leader of the European People's Party-European Democrats
In office 20 July 1994 – 20 July 1999
Preceded by	Leo Tindemans
Succeeded by	Hans-Gert Pöttering
Personal details
Born	19 April 1936 (1936-04-19) Evergem, Belgium
Political party	Christian Democratic and Flemish
Spouse(s)	Lieve Verschroeven (Divorced) Ilse Schouteden (1998–2007) Miet Smet (2008–present)
Alma mater	Catholic University of Leuven Harvard University
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Website	Official website

Wilfried Martens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈβ̞ɪlfɾiˑt ˈmɑɾtəns] ( listen); born Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens, 19 April 1936) is a Belgian politician. He was born in Sleidinge (East Flanders). Martens was the 44th Prime Minister of Belgium from 3 April 1979 to 6 April 1981 and 17 December 1981 to 7 March 1992.

Martens was a Chair of the Belgian Christian People's Party (now renamed Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V)) from 1972–79, sitting as a Deputy in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives (federal parliament) from 1974–91, and serving as a Senator from 1991 – 94.

He co-founded the European People's Party (EPP) in 1976 and has been EPP President since 1992.

From 1993 he was President of the European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD), until its merger with the EPP in 1996. Martens also negotiated with Finnish conservative politician Sauli Niinistö the merger of the European Democrat Union (EDU) into the EPP (formally concluded in 2002). The successful fusion of all center-right European organizations into the EPP – currently the largest transnational European political party with 71 member-parties from 38 countries – is widely recognized as an important achievement of his European political legacy.

From 1994 to 1998, he was a Member of the European Parliament, chairing the EPP Group.

From October 2000 to November 2001 he was also the President of the Christian Democrat International (CDI).

He re-appeared on the Belgian political stage on 22 December 2008 to help in the 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis.

Martens holds a doctorate in law, a degree in notarial studies, as well as a baccalaureate in Thomistic philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain. He also studied international political science at Harvard University. He has practised law at the Ghent Court of Appeal.

Among numerous national and international distinctions, he was honoured in 1998 with the Charles V Prize for his contribution to European Union.

Private life

Martens has five children: two from his first marriage with Lieve Verschroeven (Kris and Anne) and three with Ilse Schouteden (Sarah, Sophie and Simon) whom he met in 1988 while she was an assistant working in his cabinet. After the birth of their twins in 1997 they married on 13 November 1998. Ilse Schouteden has a son from her previous marriage. In 2007 he divorced his second wife. On 27 September 2008 he married his ex-mistress from the 1970s Miet Smet, a former Belgian minister. It was his third marriage and her first.

See also

• Pierre Carette

External links

Media related to Wilfried Martens at Wikimedia Commons

• [1]
• EPP President's page
• Wilfried Martens' CV
• Wilfried Martens on Flickr
• Wilfried Martens on Facebook
• Wilfried Martens' autobiography (book in English)

Political offices
Preceded by Paul Vanden Boeynants	Prime Minister of Belgium 1979–1981	Succeeded by Mark Eyskens
Preceded by Mark Eyskens	Prime Minister of Belgium 1981–1992	Succeeded by Jean-Luc Dehaene
Party political offices
Preceded by Jacques Santer	President of the European People's Party 1992–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Leo Tindemans	Leader of the European People's Party-European Democrats 1994–1999	Succeeded by Hans-Gert Pöttering