Paul Magnette

Who is Paul Magnette?

Paul Magnette is a Belgian politician for the PS and former political science professor at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. He is the current Minister-President of Walloonia and the current mayor of Charleroi.

He studied political sciences at the ULB, and obtained a PhD in 1999 with a dissertation Citoyenneté et construction européenne. His research interest is on institutional policies, the European Union, and theories of democracy. In 2000, together with Eric Remacle, he was awarded the Exceptional Francqui Prize for European Research.

On 20 July 2007, Magnette became minister for Health, Social Action and Equal Opportunity of the Walloon government. On 21 December 2007 Magnette became minister for Climate and Energy in the Verhofstadt III federal government. He held the post in the Leterme I Government and held the same post of minister for Climate and Energy in the Van Rompuy I Government, which took office on 30 December 2008, and in the Leterme II Government.