Jules Renkin

Jules Renkin (1931)

Jules Laurent Jean Renkin (born December 3, 1862 in Elsene , † July 15, 1934 in Brussels ) was a Belgian Catholic politician and Prime Minister.

Studies and professional activities

After studying law and the promotion for Doctor iuris 1884 at the Catholic University of Leuven , he was a lawyer working. In 1891 he co-founded the magazine L'Avenir Soziale - Journal démocratique catholique .

Political career

MP

Renkin initially belonged to the Christian Democratic wing of the Katholijke Partij and took on increasingly conservative positions in the course of his political life. From 1895 to 1907 he was a member of the Elsene Municipal Council. From 1896 until his death he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where he represented the interests of the arrondissement of Brussels.

minister

In 1907 he was appointed minister for the first time by Prime Minister Jules de Trooz and headed the Ministry of Justice in his cabinet from May 2, 1907 to January 9, 1908. He was then from January 9, 1908 to November 21, 1918 for ten years the first Minister for the Colonies in the cabinets of Frans Schollaert , Charles de Broqueville and Gerhard Cooreman . Both before and in this office he campaigned for the Congo to be accepted as a Belgian colony and issued several decrees on the administration of the Congo during the First World War .

From November 21, 1918 to December 16, 1921 he was Minister of Post, Telegraphy and Railways in the governments of Léon Delacroix and Henri Carton de Wiart, and from 1919 to 1920 Minister of the Interior. In 1920 he was awarded the royal honorary title of "Minister of State".

Prime Minister 1931 to 1932

Until he took office as Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Public Health on June 6, 1931, he did not hold any other ministerial offices, but worked again as a lawyer. His reign, which lasted until October 22, 1932, was marked by changes in the law in the areas of administration and teaching as well as the increasing economic crisis . Finally, he also took over the office of finance minister in his cabinet.

Biographical sources

• Biography in the Nieuwe Encyclopedie van de Vlaamse Bewegungsing
• ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: biography on the homepage of the Prime Minister of Belgium )
• Obituary in ars-moriendi

literature

• José Clément: History of the Royal Belgian Union of Overseas Territories. (English)
• José Clément: ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: The Belgian administration in Africa. ) (Dutch)
• The First World War. Belgian ministers and officers. in ars-moriendi (Dutch)