Rik Daems is the current President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). He has been a member of the Belgian Parliament since 1987. Initially elected in the Chamber of Representatives, since 2014 he has been a member of the Belgian Senate, where he also chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Committee on Alternate Financing of Public Investment, as well as the Belgian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He has also served as Belgian Minister of Telecommunications, Public Enterprises and Public Holdings, as well as Mayor of the City of Aarschot. Along with politics, his interests include painting and winemaking.