Former Belgian Premier Jean-Luc Dehaene is dead at 73; helped set up EU constitution

BRUSSELS – Former Belgian prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, who helped setting up the European Union's constitution and led his nation during the 1990s when it granted increasing autonomy to its Dutch and French-speaking regions, has died. He was 73.

Current Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said Thursday that Belgium "loses an exceptional stateman. Jean-Luc was a special companion."

Dehaene, a Dutch-speaking Christian Democrat, had been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year but died following a fall in France, media reports said.