Former Belgian Prime Minister Leo Tindemans, whose record support at the first European elections earned him the nickname "Mr Europe", has died aged 92.

The Christian Democrat who led two governments in the 1970s passed away at his home in Edegem, near Antwerp.

In the 1979 European election, his party won 983,000 votes, still a record for any election in Belgium.

The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, paid tribute to him as a "great European".

In the European Parliament, the European People's Party group he once chaired said that it was "deeply saddened" by the death of Tindemans.

His Christian Democratic and Flemish party paid tribute on its website to an "exceptional statesman who embodied politics for an entire generation".

The President of the European People's Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, expressed his deep sorrow at the passing away yesterday of the first EPP President and former Belgian Prime Minister, Leo Tindemans, and offered his condolences to the family.

On the national level, next to being a member of Parliament, Leo Tindemans held several ministerial posts, was the President of the Flemish Christian Democrats and the Prime Minister of Belgium. But he also had an impressive European track record. He was the first Secretary General of the European Union of Christian Democrats, the first EPP President from 1976 to 1985, was elected as an MEP with what is still today a record number of preferential votes, held several mandates as an MEP and was also chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament. Since 1985, he was Honorary President of the EPP.

EPP President Joseph Daul stated: "Leo Tindemans was a great European statesman, a visionary, and always at the forefront of new political initiatives for Europe. He left an inspiring European legacy. As Prime Minister of Belgium, he drafted in 1975 at the request of the European Council a report about the future of Europe with the title 'the European Union.' He himself became ​'Mr Europe.' Tindemans also became the first EPP President when the party was founded by EUCD member parties ahead of the first direct European elections. He charged Wilfried Martens, one of his successors, and Hans August Lucker to draft the party platform for the EPP. He launched the EPP Summits, meetings of EPP heads of state and government to prepare the European Council, which are still today one of the most successful initiatives in the history of the EPP. As an MEP, he also chaired the 'Tindemans Group' with the aim of bringing the general public into the debate about the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference. He was convinced that the citizens needed to be involved in the discussion about the future of the Union. He was the man of deepening: deepening Europe before enlarging it, deepening the EPP before enlarging it."

President Daul continued: "I would like to send my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Leo Tindemans. My thoughts today are also with the Flemish Christian Democrats, who have now lost in a little more than one year another of their European icons and statesmen, following the passing away of late EPP President Wilfried Martens, Jos Chabert and Jean-Luc Dehaene. The EPP will keep their legacy alive."