In January 2004 he was forced to step down as chairman and was temporarily replaced until after the elections of 4 June by Dirk Sterckx.
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In December 2006, De Gucht condemned the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, organised in Iran.
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In June 2005 De Gucht caused a minor diplomatic spat with the Netherlands when he referred to the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende as "a mix between Harry Potter and a rigid bourgeois without charisma" in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, a popular Belgian newspaper.
Karel Gott | Karel Čapek | Karel Appel | Karel Teige | Karel Reisz | Karel Goeyvaerts | Karel van Mander | Karel Václav Rais | Karel Husa | Karel Roden | Karel Kovařovic | Karel Halík | Jan Karel Lenstra | Paul van der Gucht | Karel Zeman | Karel van der Toorn | Karel Svoboda | Karel Štěpánek | Karel Píč | Karel Marquez | Karel Kryl | Karel Kroupa | Karel Jaromír Erben | Karel Zich | Karel Vasak | Karel van Wolferen | Karel Van Mander | Karel Stepanek | Karel Schulz | Karel Plicka |
In March 2013 the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso has appointed Tajani to lead the new EU-Brazil working group, which will also include the European Commissioner for Trade Karel de Gucht and European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.