Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe
Jean -Claude Van Cauwenberghe ( born April 28, 1944 in Charleroi), sometimes abbreviated Van Cau, a Belgian politician of the Parti Socialiste (PS ). He was from 2000 to 2005 Minister of the Walloon Region. Van Cauwenberghe was accused in the course of the so-called " Carolorégienne affair", to have exercised influence in the embezzlement of public funds in Charleroi. Although he was never prosecuted, he entered on 30 September 2005 under pressure from the public opinion of his position as Prime Minister back.
Curriculum vitae
Jean -Claude Van Cauwenberghe is the son of André Van Cauwenberghe, who made a career as a politician in the Socialist Party and was, among others, from 1965 to 1966 Secretary of State under the government of Pierre Harmel. His mother was a nurse. Jean -Claude Van Cauwenberghe himself studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB ), where he earned his doctorate as a Doctor of Law.
Van Cauwenberghe is a widower and father of two children. His son Philippe Van Cauwenberghe is also politically active during PS and alderman in Charleroi.
Political career
His political career began Van Cauwenberghe at the " Jeunes Socialistes " (similar to the Young Socialists in Germany ), the national president, he was in 1965. During his student years he worked in the office of the then Interior Minister Lucien Harmegnies (PSB ). This was especially in the " Mouvement Populaire Wallon " ( Walloon Popular Movement) active, a political unification of the Walloon movement.
In 1977 Jean -Claude Van Cauwenberghe was elected deputy, but he resigned his seat in 1983 from to become mayor of the city of Charleroi. He had officially held until 2000 this office. After the regional elections of 1995, he was appointed at the level of the Walloon Region and the French Community to the budget and finance.
After the elections of 1999, he first came also the office of the Minister for the Budget and the Minister of Public Works in the Walloon region, but after Elio Di Rupo (PS ) had decided in 2000 to assume his post as mayor of Mons, replaced Van Cauwenberghe him at the head of the Walloon government and became Prime Minister of the Walloon Region.
After the regional elections of 2004 Van Cauwenberghe was begun serving his second term as Prime Minister, but in September 2005 brought the local politicians from Charleroi Olivier Chastel ( MR), the so-called " Carolorégienne affair" rolling. This was This is a massive misappropriation of public funds, including in the award of public contracts for social housing association " La Carolorégienne ". The administrator of this housing association, Andre Liesse and Claude Despiegeleer, at this stage were also aldermen of the municipality of Charleroi and is a member of the PS, which since 1977 had an absolute majority in the City Council of Charleroi. Because of the close friendship between Van Cauwenberghe and the two lay judges and a number of face-up offense, which had taken place during the tenure of Van Cauwenberghe as mayor of Charleroi, Jean -Claude Van Cauwenberghe had to bow to the pressure of public opinion and the media: he filed on September 30, 2005, his resignation as Prime Minister of Walloon.
As a result, Van Cauwenberghe was still active as a simple local councilor as deputy city in Charleroi and as Chairman of the Socialist regional association (USC ) in Charleroi. But again and again new affairs in Charleroi were uncovered in the years 2006 to 2007, with Van Cauwenberghe, was even after there was a police search warrant with him, never charged in court. So he had announced: " Accusé de tout, mais inculpé de rien " (always accused never charged ). However, it was spoken from political influence, as in the " Realty Congo affair", and a real "System Van Cau " in Charleroi. Van Cauwenberghe was also one of the parliamentarians who had flown with the President of the Walloon Parliament José Happart in April 2009 on a business trip to California; this trip was a negative impression, especially in the context of the global economic crisis in the media and in the population.
The pressure of public opinion continued, and so Van Cauwenberghe was formed in 2007 from the National Office of the Socialist Party, in which he had represented since the 70s, excluded and could not compete on the lists of the PS for the regional elections of 2009. Since then, Van Cauwenberghe has gradually disappeared from public life.
Finally, it was announced on May 3, 2010, that formal charges were brought against Van Cauwenberghe for passive corruption. He was accused that he had personal friends preference in the award of public contracts. Van Cauwenberghe denied this.