Paul Vanden Boeynants

Paul Vanden Boeynants
Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1966
Prime Minister of Belgium
In office 20 October 1978 – 3 March 1979
Monarch	Baudouin
Preceded by	Leo Tindemans
Succeeded by	Wilfried Martens
In office 19 March 1966 – 17 July 1968
Monarch	Baudouin
Preceded by	Pierre Harmel
Succeeded by	Gaston Eyskens
Minister of Defense
In office 1972–1979
Prime Minister	Gaston Eyskens Edmond Leburton Leo Tindemans
Preceded by	Paul Willem Segers
Succeeded by	José Desmarets
Personal details
Born	22 May 1919 Forest, Belgium
Died	9 January 2001 (aged 81) Aalst, Belgium
Political party	Humanist Democratic Centre

Paul Emile François Henri Vanden Boeynants (pronounced [ˈpʌul vɑndɛn ˈbuinɑnts]; 22 May 1919 – 9 January 2001) was a Belgian politician.^[1] He served as the 41st Prime Minister of Belgium for two brief periods (1966–68 and 1978–79).^[1]

Career

Vanden Boeynants (called "VDB" by journalists) was born in Forest / Vorst, a municipality in the Brussels-Capital Region. Active as a businessman in the meat industry, he was a Representative for the PSC-CVP between 1949 and 1979. From 1961 to 1966 he led the Christian democrat PSC-CVP (which was in those days a single party). He led the CEPIC, its conservative fraction.

Vanden Boeynants served as minister for the middle class (1958-1961). In 1966, he became Prime Minister of Belgium; he stayed in this post for two years. From 1972-1979 he served as minister of defense. In 1978–1979 he led another Belgian government. Vanden Boeynants then served as chairman of the PSC (1979-1981). He left politics in 1995, and died of pneumonia after undergoing cardiovascular surgery in 2001.

One of his famous words, in a unique mixture of Dutch and French: Trop is te veel en te veel is trop. ("too many is too much and too much is too many").

Fraud

Convicted in 1986 for fraud and tax evasion, Vanden Boeynants escaped jail but was sentenced to three years' probation.^[2] This prevented him from pursuing mayoral aspirations in Brussels. He underwent a political rehabilitation during the early 1990s.

Kidnapping

In a bizarre incident that is still the subject of dispute, Vanden Boeynants was kidnapped on 14 January 1989 by members of the Haemers criminal gang.^[3] Three days later, the criminals published a note in the leading Brussels newspaper Le Soir, demanding 30 million Belgian francs in ransom. Vanden Boeynants was released (physically unharmed) a month later, on 13 February, when an undisclosed ransom was paid to the perpetrators. Patrick Haemers, the head of the gang, later committed suicide in prison,^[4] whereas two members of his gang managed to escape from the St-Gillis Prison in 1993.

Literature

• N. HIRSON, Paul Vanden Boeynants, Brussels, 1969.
• Paul DEBOGNE, Les Amis de Paul Vanden Boeynants et leurs Affaires, Ed. Vie Ouvrière, Brussel, 1970.
• R. STUYCK, Paul Vanden Boeynants, boeman of supermen?, Brussels, 1973.
• Els CLEEMPUT & Alain GUILLAUME, La rançon d'une vie. Paul Vanden Boeynants 30 jours aux mains de Patrick Haemers, Brussels, 1990.
• D. ILEGEMS & J. WILLEMS, De avonturen van VDB, Brussels, 1991.
• P. HAVAUX & P. MARLET, Sur la piste du crocodile, Brussels, 1994.
• Armand DE DECKER, In memoriam Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian Senate, 18 January 2001.

References

1. January 2001. Rulers. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
2. "In memoriam", De Standaard, 9 January 2001
3. Dick Leonard (16 January 2001) Paul Vanden Boeynants. The Independent, Retrieved 3 April 2011
4. Death sentence for gangsters. The Independent, 30 January 1994, Retrieved 3 April 2011