Robert Houben

Robert Joseph JM Houben (born May 5, 1905 in Sint-Niklaas , East Flanders , Belgium ; † April 11, 1992 in Kortenberg , Flemish Brabant , Belgium) was a Belgian university professor and politician of the Christelijke People's Party (CVP) .

biography

The son of a professional soldier studied after school in Sint-Niklaas law at the Catholic University of Leuven and took after his promotion to the doctorate in law in 1929 working as a lawyer in Antwerp and Leuven and won from 1929 to 1931 the first prize with gold medal in Civil law category in inter-university competitions.

In August 1934 he entered the civil service and until March 1935 was cabinet secretary to the then Minister for Industry and Labor Philip Van Isacker and for Labor and Social Security Edmond Rubbens . Subsequently, he was director of the legal service of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security until 1945, and between 1940 and 1944 also head of cabinet of the Secretary General for Labor. This was followed in 1945 by a brief activity as Deputy Head of Cabinet of the Minister for War Victims, Henri Pauwels .

In 1945 he began working at the Center for Political, Economic and Social Studies (CEPESS) of the Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP), where he was initially deputy director before becoming director of CEPESS in 1947. As such, he was also National Secretary of the CVP between 1947 and 1952.

In addition, he was Associate Professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven between 1950 and 1970 , where he taught labor law in particular in 1952 .

In addition to these functions, Houben was a member of the Senate for the Province of Brabant between November 1952 and 1974 .

In June 1958 he was appointed by Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens as Minister for Public Health and Family in his cabinet, to which he belonged only a few months until November 1958. As such, he was one of the negotiators of the school pact to end the second school dispute in 1958.

In April 1966, Houben succeeded Paul Vanden Boeynant's last chairman of the combined CVP-Parti Social Chrétien (PSC). He held this position until the party's split into a Dutch- speaking CVP and a French-speaking PSC in 1972. During this time, in 1967, he was also chairman of the Commission for Health Affairs.

On July 15, 1969, he was awarded the honorary title of Minister of State for his political services .

In 1973 he became managing director of CEPESS and since 1982 he was also chairman of the Robert Houben study center for political attitudes.

Publications

• Code du Traveil et de l'Industrie , 1936 (co-author Walter Leen).
• Le pacte scolaire et son application , 1960 (co-author F. Ingham).
• Het schoolpact en zijn toepassing , Brussels, 1962–1964.
• De miskende politiek. Foreword by Minister of State AE De Schryver , Brussels, 1963.
• La politique méconnue. Foreword by Pierre Wigny , Brussels, 1963.
• The CVP in the branding. Preface by PW Segers , Brussels, 1963.
• Le PSC contesté , 1963.
• Souci primordial du PSC, le renouveau des methodes de gestion , in: "Res publica", 1968, pp. 41-57.
• Nieuwjaarsboodschap , in: "De stem van het volk", 1970, 1, p. 1.
• La politique en désarroi , 1973.

Web links

• Biography (ODIS)