This is sad news for Liège. Jean-Maurice Dehousse, former minister and former mayor of Liège, died last night at the age of 86.
Jean-Maurice Dehousse is a key figure in the French-speaking Socialist Party of the 20th century. Born in Liège on October 11, 1936, he was Prime Minister-President of the Walloon executive and mayor of Liège from 1995 to 1999… he is Willy Demeyer’s predecessor in this position.
Doctor of Law from the ULg, he was also a FNRS candidate at the Institute of European Legal Studies of the ULg and a lecturer at the École supérieure de Bruxelles. Representative of the FGTB, he will also participate in the preparation of the Verviers Congress of Walloon Socialists; congress which will demand the regionalization of Belgium. Chief of staff to the Minister of Community Relations, he also took part in the work of the first state reform which enshrined in the Constitution the principle of the existence of regions and communities.
Deputy in 1971, he was also Minister of Culture under the first Martens government, he became Minister of Walloon Affairs and President of the Walloon executive, composed within the national government.
Former member of the MPW (Mouvement populaire wallon), defender of the furnace cause, member of the Wallonia Region of Europe, his personal success in the legislative elections of 1991 earned him the appointment of Minister of Science Policy in the Dehaene government.