page_title: Paul-Henri Spaak
section_title: Distinctions
hierarchical_section_title: Paul-Henri Spaak / Distinctions
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Verleihung des Karlspreises der Stadt Aachen an Paul Henri Spaak im Krönungssaal des Rathauses
context_page_description: Paul-Henri Charles Spaak was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman. Along with Robert Schuman, Alcide Degasperi and Konrad Adenauer he was a leader in the formation of the institutions that evolved into the European Union.
  A member of an influential Belgian political family, Spaak, he served briefly in World War I before he was captured, and rose to prominence after the war as a tennis player and lawyer, becoming famous for his high-profile defence of an Italian student accused of attempting to assassinate Italy's Crown Prince in 1929. A convinced socialist, Spaak entered politics in 1932 for the Belgian Workers' Party and gained his first ministerial portfolio in the government of Paul Van Zeeland in 1935. He became Prime Minister of Belgium in 1938 and held the position until 1939. During World War II, he served as Foreign Minister in the Belgian government in exile under Hubert Pierlot, where he negotiated the foundation of the Benelux Customs Union with the governments of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. After the war, he twice regained the position of Prime Minister, first for under a month in March 1946 and again between 1947 and 1949.
caption: Paul-Henri Spaak conferred the Charlemagne Prize in 1957.
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