Didier Reynders

Who is Didier Reynders?

Didier J.L. Reynders is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur. He was Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Institutional Reforms in the Van Rompuy I Government, which took office on 30 December 2008.

He was born in Liège as the youngest in a family of three children. He studied law at the University of Liège. He served as Chairman of the NMBS / SNCB from 1986 to 1991. He is currently Minister of Foreign Affairs, after serving as Finance Minister since 1999 and Deputy Prime Minister since 2004. He was the chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur from 2004 to 2011.

Reynders led the MR to a victory in the 2007 election, with the MR becoming the largest Francophone party of Belgium. The Belgian King appointed Reynders as informateur, i.e. to start off the informal coalition talks for a new federal government.

Stalemate followed the 2010 general election. The King appointed a succession of people to negotiate a coalition from June 2010 onwards, but none succeeded in the task of forming a new government during the following seven months. Reynders was appointed informateur by the King on 2 February 2011. He reported on 16 February 2011, and his brief was extended through 1 March 2011.