Charles Michel

Charles Michel is a Belgian liberal politician who served as President of the European Council from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024, succeeding Donald Tusk and being succeeded by António Costa. Before taking the EU role, he was Prime Minister of Belgium from October 2014 to October 2019, leading a centre-right coalition until it collapsed over the UN Global Compact for Migration in December 2018, after which he continued in a caretaker capacity.

Born on 21 December 1975 in Namur, Michel is the son of former European Commissioner Louis Michel. He trained as a lawyer and rose through the francophone liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR), which he led from 2011 to 2014. He became Belgium's youngest prime minister at age 38.

As President of the European Council, Michel chaired summits of EU heads of state and government and represented the Union externally at his level. His tenure covered several consequential files:

• The COVID-19 response, including the July 2020 agreement on the €750 billion NextGenerationEU recovery instrument.
• The EU's reaction to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including successive sanctions packages and candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova in June 2022.
• Granting EU candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina (2022) and opening accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova in 2024.
• A widely reported diplomatic incident in Ankara in April 2021 ("Sofagate"), when Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was left without a chair during a meeting with Turkish President Erdoğan.

Michel announced in January 2024 that he would stand as a candidate in the June 2024 European Parliament elections but later withdrew that bid amid criticism that an early departure would have disrupted Council leadership. He completed his full term and handed over to former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa.