Freddy Willockx

Frederik "Freddy" AA Willockx (born September 2, 1947 in Sint-Niklaas , East Flanders , Belgium ) is a Belgian politician of the Socialist Partij Anders (sp.a).

biography

After attending school, he studied economics at the University of Ghent and after completing his studies there was scientific assistant to the professor of economics , Marcel-Alfons-Gilbert van Meerhaeghe.

Willockx began his political career in 1971 when he was elected a member of the Sint-Niklaas municipal council . In 1973 he gave up his academic career and instead became an attaché in the cabinet of the then Minister of Economics, Willy Claes . After he became alderman of Sint-Niklaas in 1974 , he left the staff of Willy Claes and also became general secretary of the General Belgian Trade Union Federation (ABVV) in Sint Niklaas- Dendermonde . He then became Deputy National Secretary of the Socialist Party in 1977.

In 1979 he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the first time and was a member of it until 1984.

In 1980 he was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance by Prime Minister Wilfried Martens and was then Minister for Post, Telegraph and Telephone (PTT) from 1980 until the end of Martens' term of office on April 6, 1981, after a cabinet reshuffle.

From May 1988 to January 1989, he also held the post of Minister for Post, Telegraph and Telephone in the seventh Martens government . Subsequently, between 1989 and 1994, he was mayor of his native city of Sint-Niklaas for the first time .

In March 1992, Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene also appointed him Minister for Pensions in his first cabinet . He was a member of this until July 18, 1994 when he became a member of the 4th European Parliament .

After leaving the European Parliament , he was re-elected as a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1999 and has since represented the interests of the Socialist Party Anders.

In July 1999 the new Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt appointed him government commissioner in his first government . As such, he was assigned to the Minister for Social Affairs and Pensions Frank Vandenbroucke and charged with the dioxin problem.

After leaving the government in January 2001, he became mayor of Sint-Niklaas again and held this office until 2010.

For his political merits, he was awarded the honorary title of Minister of State on January 28, 2002 , and at the same time membership of the Privy Council .

Willockx, who was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown on June 9, 1999 , wrote his memoirs under the title Hier klopt mijn hart after his resignation as Mayor of Sint-Niklaas in 2010 .

Web links

• Archive directory with short biography (PDF; 122 kB) by Martijn Vandenbroucke, Amsab-Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, 2005. (Dutch)
• Entry on Freddy Willockx in the European Parliament 's database of deputies

Individual evidence

Commons : Freddy Willockx  - collection of images, videos and audio files

1. ↑ Burgemeester Freddy Willockx neemt afscheid (Homepage of the city of Sint-Niklaas ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove it Note. )  
2. ↑ HLN: Freddy Willockx stops as burgemeester Sint-Niklaas (June 15, 2010)
3. ↑ STANDAARD UITGEVERIJ ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.