Joseph Michel (25 October 1925 β 3 June 2016) was a Christian-Democrat Belgian politician, member of the PSC, who was President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives (1980β81) and who twice served as Minister of the Interior.
Joseph Michel was born in Saint-Mard, Virton in 1925.
In 1958 he was elected a member of the city council of Virton (1959β94), where he also served as alderman (1959β70) and mayor (1970β82).
He became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1961 and served until 1991.
He was the President of the Chamber of Representatives from 1980β81.
Michel was minister of the Interior (1974β77) 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.
From 1977 to 1979 he was minister of French-language National Education.
He later again served a second term as minister of the Interior (1986β88) under Wilfried Martens.On 3 June 2016 Michel died in Arlon aged 90.