In this interview excerpt, Wilfried Martens, Belgian Prime Minister from 1979 to March 1981 and December 1981 to 1992 and President of the European People’s Party (EPP) since 1990, explains his motivations when he took over the party leadership. He also discusses the moment he was left off the top of the list of his national party (the Christian People’s Party, or CVP) at the European Parliament elections in June 1999, despite the fact that he was leader of the EPP Parliamentary Group at the time.

In this interview excerpt, Wilfried Martens, Belgian Prime Minister from 1979 to March 1981 and December 1981 to 1992 and President of the European People’s Party (EPP) since 1990, describes how, after leaving his post as Prime Minister, he sought to make the role of party leader more than the often merely ceremonial position it had previously been; in practice, the party leadership was exercised to a large extent by its secretary general.