Frank Van Acker

Monument to Frank Van Acker in Bruges (2011)

Frank Marie Grégoire Van Acker (born January 10, 1929 in Bruges , West Flanders , Belgium , † April 22, 1992 ) was a Belgian politician .

biography

MP, Senator and Minister

Van Acker, son of the late three-time prime minister Achille Van Acker , studied after the school attendance law and took after his promotion to the doctorate in law in 1951 working as a lawyer in Bruges, which he held intermittently until the 1984th

In 1954 he also began his political career when he was appointed Federal Secretary of the Belgian Socialist Party (BSP) in Bruges. He then was an advisor to the government led by his father between 1957 and 1958. In 1959 he was elected a member of the Bruges Municipal Council , to which he belonged with one interruption from 1965 to 1971 until his death in 1992.

In 1961 he was elected for the first time as a member of the Chamber of Deputies and initially represented the interests of the BSP until 1965. At that time, his father was President of the Chamber of Deputies. After leaving Parliament, he was an advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Antoon Spinoy between 1965 and 1966 and Deputy Head of Cabinet of Freddy Terwagne , Minister for Community Affairs , from 1968 to 1969 .

This was followed by his election as a member of the Senate , to which he belonged until 1974. During this time he was from 1972 to 1973 State Secretary for the budget in the government of Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens . In January 1973 Prime Minister Edmond Leburton appointed him Minister for Social Welfare in his two cabinets, which remained in office until April 1974.

After leaving the Senate, he was re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1974, where he again represented the interests of the BSP until 1983.

Long-time mayor of Bruges

After the Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP) lost its absolute majority in Bruges in the local elections in 1976, Van Acker was one of the founders of a large anti-CVP coalition . However, since there was an appeal by the State Council , he could not be elected Mayor of Bruges until mid-1977 by this coalition of socialists , liberals , Flemish nationalists and so-called Christian Democrats . He also held the office of mayor until his death.

During his tenure, he made a name for himself primarily with the redesign of the city ​​center , which meant that cars (Van Acker himself did not have a driver's license ) had to make way for cyclists and pedestrians, and paved roads were replaced by cobblestones. In environmental policy , he advocated that radioactive waste was not allowed to be transported through the city of Bruges. This policy resulted in the coalition parties and in particular the BSP gaining votes in the local elections and now had 13 municipal council seats. In the local elections in 1988, the BSP was able to increase its council seats to 19, while conversely the CVP fell from 22 to 15 council seats.

Van Acker was able to act as a “strong man” of BSP in Bruges. When the National Association of Mutual Socialist Insurance Associations (NVSM) wanted to replace several magazines with a national magazine for financial reasons, it refused to give up the Vlaams Weekblad, which his father had founded . While thereby blocking the publication of the national magazine, he demanded the support of his own deficit newspaper with federal funds. He took the same regional stance as chairman of the Federation of Socialist Insurance Associations of Bruges- Ostend against the merger with the Socialist Health Insurance of West Flanders. His rejection of automated administration also stood in the way of a modern organization of health insurances, so that they got into trouble after his death.

At the beginning of the 1980s , many saw in him a possible successor to Karel Van Miert as chairman of the BSP, but he decided to continue his office as mayor. However, during this time, as the “ Eminence Gray ”, he certainly exerted influence on the Socialist Party. In 1980 he was also chairman of a commission for reforming social security, although his so-called “Van Acker Plan” was no longer implemented after the BSP lost the election in 1981.

For his political services he was honored on June 5, 1985 with the honorary title of Minister of State .

After his unexpected death, the Frank Van Acker Foundation was named after him.

Web links

• Short biography on the Frank Van Acker Foundation homepage