Leo Tindemans

Leonard Clemence "Leo" Tindemans (; 16 April 1922 – 26 December 2014) was a Belgian politician. He served as the prime minister of Belgium from 25 April 1974 until he resigned as minister on 20 October 1978.

Early life Tindemans was born in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, to a Catholic family.

Political career

Early career Tindemans was affiliated with the CVP. At the time, the party was strong in the northern region of Flanders. Tindemans was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1961 and re-elected in 1965, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1978. From 1965 to 1973 Tindemans also served as the mayor of Edegem. This formed his second cabinet with the Christian-democrats, socialists and Flemish nationalists.

He was awarded the Charlemagne Prize 1976.

Tindemans Report At the conclusion of the Paris Summit in 1974, Tindemans was tasked with devising a report to define what was meant by the term 'European Union.' Consulting not only reports drawn up by the European Parliament, European Commission and the European Court of Justice, Tindemans also sought advice from members of European governments and "other powerful forces in the various States". Despite this, the report generated a request from the Council of Foreign Ministers and the commission to create an annual progress report on the European Union.

Tindemans was elected to the European Parliament with a record number of votes (983.000 votes, which is still a record for any election in Belgium) and was a member of that parliament from 1979 to 1981 (during which time he also was chairman of the CVP). With the general elections of 1981, Tindemans returned to Belgian politics and became minister of foreign affairs (1981–1989). With the European elections in 1989 Tindemans went back to the European Parliament where he served two terms until he retired in 1999. During 1994–1995 he was chairman of the Tindemans group.

Honours Belgium: Minister of State by Royal Decree. Belgium: Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold. Belgium: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Crown. Grand Cross in the Order of Merit of the Austrian Republic.