Born in 1940 in Montpellier, France, where his parents were fleeing from German troops, Jean-Luc Dehaene got into politics through the Christian trade union which was closely linked to his Popular Christian Party (CD&V). In 1981, he became Minister of Social Affairs and Institutional Reform and in 1988 was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Traffic and Institutional Reform.
He was Prime Minister of Belgium from 1992 to 1999. In that year's elections, Dehaene was defeated, largely due to a dioxin-caused chicken fodder crisis.
Since 2001, he has been mayor of Vilvoorde. In that same year, he was nominated Vice Chairman of the Convention on the Future of Europe, which drafted a constitution for Europe. On July 18, 2003, the draft Constitution was presented. One day, Mr. Dehaene will be regarded as one of the founding fathers of the European Constitution.