Antoinette Spaak

Antoinette Spaak was a Belgian politician and leading figure within Francophone politics in the country. She was born into a noted political family and entered politics as part of the regionalist Democratic Front of Francophones in 1972. She held the presidency of the FDF from 1977 to 1982 and later advocated conciliation between Francophone centrist political parties. This brought the FDF into an electoral coalition ahead of the 1999 election and paved the way for its absorption into the Reformist Movement in 2002. Spaak held various political offices in Belgium and the European Communities until retiring from politics in 2009.