Brussels, 08/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Belgian commissioner Louis Michel (with responsibility for development and humanitarian aid) will leave the European Commission on 13 July, to take up his seat the next day in the new European Parliament, to which he was elected on 7 June as top of the list of French-speaking Liberals in Belgium. He will be replaced in the Commission by the current Belgian foreign affairs minister, Karel De Gucht, who will inherit the portfolio of his fellow Belgian for the last months of this Commission. Mr De Gucht, who will also be the Belgian commissioner for the next five years, is most likely to be replaced at the Foreign Affairs Ministry by the former Belgian prime minister, Yves Leterme. This is a particularly important post, as Belgium will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2010. (H.B./transl.fl)