Charles Michel, 38, becomes Belgium’s youngest PM since 1840

Belgium’s main centre-right parties agreed Tuesday to form a coalition with French-speaking liberal Charles Michel as prime minister, ending a five-month period since elections without a government. Michel — who at 38 becomes one of Europe’s youngest leaders and Belgium’s youngest in 174 years — replaces the socialist Elio di Rupo. The coalition groups three Flemish conservative parties and Michel’s French-speaking liberals. The breakthrough came after months of negotiations but is still far shorter than Belgium’s previous wait for leadership in 2010. Then, it took politicians 18 months to form a national government, setting a world record.

He is a very determined person, ready to assume his responsibilities, even shake up the established order.

A colleague of Charles Michel

Michel has been part of the Belgian political landscape for more than 15 years. His involvement in politics began as a boy, putting up posters for his father Louis Michel, a former minister and European commissioner. He was 16 when he joined the party’s youth group in Jodoigne. He became a lawyer in 1995 aged 20 after studying law in Brussels and Amsterdam. Four years later, Michel was elected a member of the federal parliament. In October 2000, he snagged the portfolio of Wallonia’s regional minister for internal affairs and public services, becoming, at 25, the youngest minister in the kingdom’s history. From 2007 to early 2011, Michel served as minister for cooperation, considered a secondary position, but he rose to national prominence in early 2011 when he became head of the Liberals.

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