Frank Vandenbroucke (politician)

Frank Ignace Georgette Vandenbroucke ( born October 21, 1955 in Leuven, Flemish Brabant, Belgium) is a Belgian politician of the Socialist Party Other ( sp.a ) and was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, among others.

Biography

Ascent to the Secretary of State and withdrawal due Agusta affair

Hailing from a family of doctors Frank Vandenbroucke studied post-school initially Economics at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) and graduated in 1978 with a licentiate. During his studies he belonged in 1974 to the organizers of courses on the subject of Marxist economic theory. During his studies, he began his political activity as a member of the municipal council of Scherpenheuvel- Zichem. After graduating, he was between 1978 and 1980 research assistant at the Center for Economic Studies at KU Leuven. After a post-graduate study of economics at Cambridge University from 1980 to 1982 to 1985 he was the student organization of the Socialist Party.

Upon completion of this activity, in 1985 he was first elected as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies, is this until 1996 as a representative of the SP. During this time he was also the successor of Karel Van Miert 1989-1994 Chairman of the Socialist Party. Successor as party chairman was the former Interior Minister Louis Tobback.

On January 23, 1994, he was appointed by Prime Minister Jean -Luc Dehaene as Vice- Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in the Cabinet. He continued in this position until March 22, 1995 when he resigned because of the Agusta affair, however, was not convicted of this. After his resignation from the Cabinet, he was in the Chamber of Deputies to 1996 leader of the Socialist Party.

Between 1996 and 1999 he completed further studies at the Faculty of Social Studies of the University of Oxford.

Return to politics

After his return to Belgium, he was appointed by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt on 12 July 1999 as Minister for Social Affairs and Pensions in its first government. In his second rule, he was then between 12 July 2003 and the July 18, 2004 Minister for Work and Pensions.

After retiring from the federal government of Belgium, he was appointed by the Prime Minister of Flanders, Yves Leterme as Minister of Labour, teaching and training in the Flemish regional government. This he belonged between 2004 and 2009 under Leterme's successor Kris Peeters temporarily as Deputy Prime Minister on. In addition, he was from 2009 to July 6, 2010 Member of the Flemish Parliament.

For his political merits Frank Vandenbroucke was awarded together with Jos Chabert and Armand De Decker on 30 November 2009 with the honorary title of Minister of State.

In the parliamentary elections on 13 June 2010 he was elected a member of the Senate.