Mark Eyskens

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Belgian politician

title: "Mark Eyskens" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1933-births", "catholic-university-of-leuven-(1834–1968)-alumni", "columbia-graduate-school-of-arts-and-sciences-alumni", "belgian-economists", "christian-democratic-and-flemish-politicians", "ministers-of-state-of-belgium", "foreign-ministers-of-belgium", "ministers-of-finance-of-belgium", "prime-ministers-of-belgium", "living-people", "politicians-from-leuven", "viscounts-of-belgium", "children-of-prime-ministers-of-belgium", "belgian-roman-catholics", "members-of-the-royal-flemish-academy-of-belgium-for-science-and-the-arts"] description: "Belgian politician" topic_path: "economics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Eyskens" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Belgian politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Mark Eyskens
image	Mark Eyskens 1986.jpg
caption	Eyskens in 1986
office	Prime Minister of Belgium
monarch	Baudouin
deputy	Guy Mathot
Willy Claes
José Desmarets
term_start	6 April 1981
term_end	17 December 1981
predecessor	Wilfried Martens
successor	Wilfried Martens
office2	Minister of Foreign Affairs
primeminister2	Wilfried Martens
term_start2	1989
term_end2	1992
predecessor2	Leo Tindemans
successor2	Willy Claes
office3	Minister of Finance
primeminister3	Wilfried Martens
term_start3	1985
term_end3	1988
predecessor3	Frans Grootjans
successor3	Philippe Maystadt
primeminister4	Wilfried Martens
term_start4	1980
term_end4	1981
predecessor4	Paul Hatry
successor4	Robert Vandeputte
office5	Minister of Economic Affairs
primeminister5	Wilfried Martens
term_start5	1981
term_end5	1985
predecessor5	Willy Claes
successor5	Philippe Maystadt
birth_date
birth_place	Leuven, Belgium
party	Christian Democratic and Flemish
spouse	Anne Rutsaert
alma_mater	Catholic University of Leuven
Columbia University
::

Early life

Eyskens was born in Leuven, the son of Gaston Eyskens, and lived for a time at the International House of New York. When Germany invaded Belgium, Eyskens and his mother fled to France but upon the Belgian capitulation, the family returned to Leuven.

Academic career

In 1953, Eyskens attained a bachelor's degree in philosophy. In 1956, he became a doctor juris at the University of Leuven. In 1957, he obtained a master of arts in economics at Columbia University. In 1962, he received a doctorate in economic sciences. In 1962, he became a professor at the University of Leuven (1962–1998). From 1971 to 1976, he was chairman of the university. He was a member of the Club of Rome (1972–1978). In 2004, he was chairman of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.

Political career

In 1962, Eyskens started his political career as a counsellor in the cabinet of the Minister of Finance André Dequae.

In 1976, Eyskens became Secretary of State for Town and Country Planning and Housing (1976–1977, Tindemans I). Eyskens was first elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1977. He was re-elected (elections of 1977, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1978, 1995, 1999) and served until 2003.

He became Secretary of State for the budget and Flemish affairs (1977–1979, Tindemans II & Vanden Boeynants II), Minister of Development Aid (1979–1980, Martens I, Martens II & Martens III) and Minister of Finance (1980–1981, Martens IV). Eyskens became the 45th Prime Minister of Belgium on 6 April 1981, an office his father had held six times. His government quickly collapsed on 17 December, due to disagreements on the financing of the Walloon steel industry. After the fall of his government he served as Minister for Economical Affairs (1981–1985, Martens V) and Minister of Finance (1985–1988, Martens VI & Martens VII). Although originally not a member of the Martens VIII cabinet, on 19 June 1989 he re-entered the government when he replaced Leo Tindemans as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989–1992, Martens VIII & Martens IX). This was the last government office he held. He served as a backbencher 1992–2003 and retired at the 2003 general election.

Later career

On 18 November 1998, Eyskens was made a Minister of State. In the 2006 provincial elections Eyskens was elected to the provincial council of Flemish Brabant. He served from 2007 until his resignation in 2009.

Eyskens is a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Panel Foundation, a member of the Advisory Board of the Itinera Institute think-tank and as Honorary President of the Olivaint Conference of Belgium.

References

Honorary President, [http://olivaint.be/patrons.html] {{Webarchive. link. (15 March 2016 , '' [[Olivaint Conference of Belgium]]''. Retrieved Mai 27, 2014)

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