Former EU Commissioner Van Miert dies after fall: media
(BRUSSELS) - Former European commissioner Karel Van Miert, once one of the EU's most powerful figures as the head of competition services, died Tuesday after an accident, Belgian media reported.
Van Miert, 67, apparently fell from a garden ladder, Belga news agency said. Other media confirmed he had died after an accident, without providing details.
The Belgian Flemish socialist started work at the European Commission as an intern, and went on to work as transport commissioner under Jacques Delors, then president of the EU's executive arm, from 1989-93.
He took over the competition portfolio until 1999, one of the commission's most powerful posts.
"The European Commission pays homage to the dedicated and engaged European Mr Van Miert always was," President Jose Manuel Barroso said. "His work and his example will continue to inspire the work of the European Commission."
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