Born in Hasselt (Belgium), November 24, 1938
Willy
Claes was elected to the Hasselt City Council in 1964,
going on four years later to enter parliament when he
was elected to the House of Representatives and appointed
to report on the Budget. From 1971 onwards, he was one
of the spokesmen of the Belgian Socialist Party each time
a government was formed. His first ministerial appointment
was to the Department of Education in the government headed
by Mr. Gaston Eyskens in 1972. In 1973, he was put in
charge of the Department of Economic Affairs in the Leburton-De
Clercq-Tindemans government.
In
the second government headed by Mr. Tindemans (1977),
Mr. Claes was once more appinted Minister of Economic
Affiars. Between 1978-1982, Willy Claes was Minister of
Economic Affairs in four governments led by Wilfried Martens,
and in one headed by Mark Eyskens. He was also appinted
Deputy Prime Minister, a post he has held five times.
In
December 1983, King Baudouin appointed him Minister of
State. From 1988 to 1992, he was Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Economic Affairs in the government led
by Mr. Martens. In March 1992, when Mr. Jean-Luc Dehaene
became Prime Minister, Mr. Claes was appointed Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was
elected Chairman of the Party of European Socialists in
July 1992.
Mr.
Claes is a well-known orchestral conductor and accomplished
musician. He is married to Suzanne Meynen, a former nurse
and midwife, now active in several associations providing
psycho-social and medical assistance. They have two children.
In
September 1994, Mr. Claes was nominated by NATO Foreign
Ministers to succeed Manfred Wörner
as Secretary General of NATO. He took up his appointment
as Secretary General on 17 October 1994. He was succeeded
by Mr. Javier Solana in December
1995.
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