Joseph Michel (politician)

Joseph Michel (25 October 1925 – 3 June 2016) was a Christian-Democrat Belgian politician, member of the PSC, who was President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives (1980–81) and who twice served as Minister of the Interior.

In 1958, he was elected a member of the city council of Virton (1959–94), where he also served as alderman (1959–70) and mayor (1970–82).

Michel was minister of the Interior (1974–77) in the first government of Leo Tindemans.

During his term, he put through a massive fusion operation in which the number of Belgian communes was lowered from 2.359 to 596.

He later again served a second term as minister of the Interior (1986–88) under Wilfried Martens.