Pierre Harmel

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Pierre Charles José Marie Harmel (born March 16, 1911) was a Belgian lawyer, Christian Democratic politician and diplomat.

Born in Uccle, he studied law at the University of Liège, where he obtained the title of Doctor in Law and Master in Social Sciences in 1933. During his studies, he was active in the Association catholique belge, of which he became the chairman in 1938.

Mobilized in 1940, he took part in the 18 days Campaign. In 1947, he was appointed professor of Law at the University of Liège.

Member of the Parti Social Chrétien (PSC) since its creation in 1945, he was elected deputy for the first time in the parliamentary elections of February 17, 1946. He would keep his seat without interruption until 1971.

Pierre Harmel represented Belgium at the fourth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1949. He subsequently was member of several governments in the 1950s and 1960s.

Minister of Education from June 8, 1950 until April 22, 1954, he increased the wages of teachers in private (i.e. Catholic) schools and introduced laws linking the subsidies for private schools to the number of pupils. These measures were perceived by the freethinkers (i.e. the anti-clerical Liberals and Socialists) as a declaration of war. When the 1954 elections brought to power a coalition of Socialists and Liberals, the new Education Minister, Leo Collard, immediately set out to reverse the measures taken by his predecessor, sparking mass protests by the Catholic bloc. A compromise was eventually found by the next government (a Catholic minority government led by Gaston Eyskens), and the "School War" was concluded by the November 6, 1958 School Pact.

Pierre Harmel was Minister of Justice in the second government led by Gaston Eyskens (June 23, 1958 - November 6, 1958), and then Minister of Culture (November 6, 1958 - September 3, 1960) and Minister of the Civil Service (September 3, 1960 - April 25, 1961) in the third Eyskens cabinet.

Prime Minister of Belgium from July 28, 1965 until March 19, 1966, Harmel led a coalition comprising Christian Democrats and Socialists. Finally, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Liberal-Christian Democratic coalition led by Paul Vanden Boeynants (March 19, 1966 - February 7, 1968).

As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he submitted a report titled "Future Tasks of the Alliance" to the NATO council of ministers. The report, which was approved by the council in December 1967, contained the so-called "Harmel Doctrine". It advocated a strong defence combined with good diplomatic relations with the countries of the Warsaw Pact. The Harmel Doctrine helped to pave the way for the East-West détente of the early 1970s, which led to the 1975 Helsinki Summit and the creation of the OSCE. Harmel himself visited several Warsaw Pact countries.

After 25 years in the Chamber of Deputies, Pierre Harmel was Senator from 1971 until 1977. In 1988, he was awarded a honorary doctorate at the Catholic University of Louvain, and in 1991, King Baudouin conferred on him the title of count.

Pierre Harmel is currently living in Brussels, and despite his advanced age, still comments on current politics from time to time.