Strasbourg, 10/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 October, the European institutions paid tribute to Wilfried Martens, head of the European People's Party (EPP) and former prime minister of Belgium, who died in the night of Wednesday to Thursday, aged 77. On Tuesday, Martens delegated his job, which he had held since 1990, to the head of the EPP at the European Parliament Joseph Daul of France, for health reasons.
Daul, acting president of the EPP, explained: “We have a lost a great European, a Founding Father of the EPP and of the European Union. We will always remember the legacy of a great leader and all that he has done for our political family. The EPP was Wilfried Martens' life's work and he worked with an unstoppable energy to promote Christian democratic values in Europe. As a strong promoter of European integration, and with great vision, he worked tirelessly to build the strong and united political family that we are today, and made a lasting mark on Europe and beyond.” In 1998, Martens won the Charles V prize for his contribution to the European Union.
Compatriot and ally Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, said Martens had a great sense of duty, great powers of persuasion and was a man of character, always seeking solutions to the benefit of Flanders, Belgium and Europe. Van Rompuy said Martens, a grand statesman, had been the father of the Belgian federal system.
On behalf of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso said he remembered him as a man who united people in order to build a consensus, both in his own country and in Europe.
Belgian MEP Anne Delvaux said that nobody else had been prime minister of a country as long as Martens, who was in power in Belgium from 1979 to 1992 apart from eight months in 1981, which was pretty impressive given the inter-community tensions in the country at the time. She said that even when weak through ill-health (blood coagulation), he had always been a voluntarist and wanting to work for the good of his political group.
Jean-Pierre Audy of France said Martens had been an artisan of peace, a fervent defender of the unity of Belgium, who had participated in the construction of a free and democratic united Europe in diversity.
Mathieu Grosch of Belgium said he had always been able to strike a balance between listening and convincing.
Wilfried Martens will be buried in Belgium on 10 October.
Party presidency question on hold. Joseph Daul is chairing the EPP for the moment but the question of finding a successor to Martens has been put on hold for the moment. Party officials say the situation will probably be discussed at the next presidency meeting, at the end of October. (EL/transl.fl)