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Paul Vanden BoeynantsBelgian politician, Prime Minister of Belgium
Date of Birth: 22.05.1919
Country:  Belgium |
Content:
- Paul van den Boeynants: A Belgian Politician and Prime Minister
- First Term as Prime Minister
- Defense Minister and Second Term as Prime Minister
- Corruption and Kidnapping
- Later Life
Paul van den Boeynants: A Belgian Politician and Prime Minister
Early Life and Political CareerPaul van den Boeynants was a Belgian politician who served as Prime Minister of Belgium twice, from 1966 to 1968 and from 1978 to 1979. He began his career in the meat industry before entering politics. In 1949, he was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives as a member of the Christian Social Party (CVP), where he later served as leader from 1961 to 1966. From 1957 to 1961, he held the post of Minister of Middle Class Affairs.
First Term as Prime Minister
Van den Boeynants' first term as Prime Minister witnessed a period of austerity measures, including cuts to education, healthcare, and social security, as well as tax increases. In 1967, the government passed special laws granting it extraordinary powers. In 1968, despite the passage of language laws in 1961 and 1962, Flemish students at the University of Leuven demanded that the university's French-language faculties be relocated to Wallonia. The government refused, leading to the resignation of Catholic ministers and the collapse of van den Boeynants' government. Parliament was dissolved, and a government crisis ensued, which ended in June 1968 with the formation of a coalition government of Catholics and Socialists led by Gaston Eyskens.
Defense Minister and Second Term as Prime Minister
After serving as Prime Minister, van den Boeynants held the position of Minister of Defense from 1972 to 1979. He was elected Prime Minister for a second time in 1978, serving until 1979. From 1979 to 1981, he was Deputy Prime Minister.
Corruption and Kidnapping
In 1982, van den Boeynants was accused of corruption. In 1986, he was fined heavily and sentenced to three years' suspended imprisonment for tax evasion, financial fraud, and providing false income information to financial authorities. In January 1989, he was kidnapped from his underground garage and held hostage for thirty days, being released after a ransom of 3 million Deutschmarks was paid. The main suspect, career criminal Patrick Haemers, was apprehended in Brussels, while two possible accomplices with forged passports were detained in Colombia. Analysis of gunpowder residue on a weapon linked Haemers' gang to the Brabant attacks as well. In February 1997, while in prison as a key figure in both the "Gang of Nivelles" case and the kidnapping of Paul van den Boeynants, Haemers was found hanged in his cell.
Later Life
Van den Boeynants retired from public politics in 1995. For a time, he was the editor of the satirical weekly magazine Pan.
