Gaston E. Thorn (Luxembourg)
Elected President of the thirtieth session of the General Assembly
Gaston E. Thorn, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affaire and Foreign Trade of Luxembourg, was today elected President of the thirtieth session of the General Assembly.
Mr. Thorn is also Luxembourg's Minister for Physical Education and Sport. He became Prime Minister following the May 1974 elections which saw a Liberal-Socialist coalition Government come to power.
Mr. Thorn has been Chairman of the Luxembourg Democratic Party since 1961. In 1970 he became President of Liberal International, a non-governmental organisation which came to promote liberal ideas and liberalism as a political philosophy.
Born in Luxembourg on 3 September 1928, Mr. Thorn was arrested by the occupying forces during the Second World War and spent several months in a correction camp.
After the war he studied at universities in Montpellier, France, in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in Paris. He obtained a Doctor of laws degree and was called to the Luxembourg Bar. During his university days he vas President of the National Union of Students of Luxembourg and President of the International Student Conference.
Mr. Thom was elected to the Luxembourg legislature in 1959 and has been re-elected at all subsequent elections. In addition, he was a Councillor of the City of Luxembourg before entering the Government in 1968 and was Deputy Mayor of the capital from 1951 to 1963.
Mr. Thorn was a member of the European Parliament from 1959 to 1969, holding the following positions during this period: Vice-Chairman of the Liberal Group Chairman of the Developing Countries Committee and Chairman of the Joint Committee of the European Economic Community and Associated African and Malagasy States.
Upon entering the Government after the 1968 elections he became Minister for Foreign Affaire and Foreign Trade, Minister for Civil Service and for Physical Education and Sport.
He is married to Liliane Thorn-Petit, a journalist. who is Honorary.
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