Tributes paid to former National Bank governor Luc Coene

Politicians and others have been paying tribute to Luc Coene, the former governor of the National Bank who died last week. He was 69 and had been ill for some time.

Coene was “my fellow traveller for more than 30 years”, said former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose chief of staff Coene had been. “In every function he filled, he acted as a role model for the generation that followed.”

Coene, he said, had been a colleague in the Senate, a mainstay on the two terms he had served as Verhofstadt’s chief. “And above all an independent of the National Bank who was always ready and willing to give his opinion, even when it wasn’t asked for.”

Jan Smets, who succeeded Coene as governor in 2015, described him as “an extraordinary man. He had a sharp power of analysis and a huge degree of insight, coupled with his willingness to take on responsibility. He led from the front like a general. He was also a loyal man, with whom I could work in perfect confidence.”

Smets and Coene started working at the NBB at the same, he said, and used to commute by train from Ghent to Brussels.

Coene was known to support Open VLD. The party’s prresident, Gwendolyn Rutten, said he was “a man with a vision that combined knowledge and rigour. Luc’s advice was always clear and well-founded.” Party colleague Alexander De Croo called him “an unusually wise, friendly man of great integrity”.

Prime minister Charles Michel also tweeted his thoughts for the family, describing Coene as “a professional bridge-builder who became a driven governor”.

Photo: Laurie Dieffembacq/BELGA