Interview with Wilfried Martens, co-founder (1976) then President of the European People’s Party (EPP) since 1990 and Belgian Prime Minister from 1979 to 1992, recorded by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 19 May 2010 at the EPP headquarters in Brussels. The interview was conducted by Étienne Deschamps, a Researcher at the CVCE, and particularly focuses on the following subjects: the origins of Martens’ interest in Europe, the origins and ideological basis of the EPP, Martens’ personal experience as EPP President and the changing nature of this role, the changing composition and positioning of the EPP, a review of 20 years at the head of the EPP, European political parties and national parliaments, various eminent Belgian figures and the future of the EU.

Interview with Wilfried Martens, Belgian Prime Minister from 1979 to 1992 and co-founder (1976) then President of the European People’s Party (EPP) since 1990, recorded by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 2 September 2010 at the EPP headquarters in Brussels. The interview, conducted by Hervé Bribosia, Research Coordinator at the CVCE, particularly focuses on the following subjects: the changing role and modus operandi of the European Council, Belgian candidates for the role of President of the European Commission, Belgian appointments to the European Commission and to other senior European posts, the Belgian Presidencies of the Council of the European Communities in 1982 and 1987, the Single Act, the European dimension of some Belgian issues, the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, the Maastricht Treaty and political union, the organisation of Belgium’s European policy and the future of a federal Belgium in the European Union.