Guy Gustave Arthur Ghislain Spitaels (3 September 1931 – 21 August 2012) was a Belgian politician of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

. He was the 7th Minister-President of Wallonia from 1992 to 1994 and president of his party for thirteen years, until he was succeeded by

Philippe Busquin Philippe Busquin (born 6 January 1941) is a Belgian politician. Busquin was born in Feluy. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009 for the French Community of Belgium with the Parti Socialiste, part of the Socialist Gro ...

Career

Spitaels graduated in 1957 in political and social sciences at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL), and attended the

College of Europe The College of Europe (french: Collège d'Europe) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with its main campus in Bruges, Belgium and a second campus in Warsaw, Poland. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 by leading ...

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

1957–1958. He quit the Roman Catholic faith and became a Freemason. He became a professor in labour law at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). In the early 1970s Spitaels was chief of staff to various Belgian socialist ministers. After the elections of 1974 Spitaels became a senator. He became mayor of

Ath Ath (; nl, Aat, ; pcd, Ât; wa, Ate) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Arbre, Ath, Bouvignies, Ghislenghien, Gibecq, Houtaing, ...

in 1977, an office he held for twenty years. The same year he became minister of Labour under Prime Minister

Paul Vanden Boeynants Paul Emile François Henri Vanden Boeynants (; 22 May 1919 – 9 January 2001) was a Belgian politician.
Rulers. Retrieved 30 August 2014.< ...

. From 1979 to 1981 Spitaels was deputy prime minister under the governments of

Wilfried Martens Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens (; 19 April 1936 – 9 October 2013) was a Belgian politician who served as prime minister of Belgium from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1992. A member of the Flemish Christian People's Party, during his premiership ...

. He concurrently served as minister of the budget (1979–1980) and minister of transport (1980–1981). After the electoral defeat at the elections of 1981, the PS was relegated to the opposition and Guy Spitaels became party chairman of the PS (1981–1992). In the general elections of 1987 he led his party to electoral victory and back to power. With him and

André Cools André H.P. Cools (1 August 1927 – 18 July 1991) was a Belgian politician and a senior figure within the Walloon Socialist Party (PS) in the Liège region. He was assassinated in 1991 and the subsequent investigation uncovered widespread graft ...

, the PS played a leading role in transformation the unitary structures of the Belgian state into a federalist system. The transformation was largely accomplished by 1989 and completely formalized in 1993.'' In 1992 Spitaels arranged that he would become Minister-President of the

Walloon Government The Walloon Government (french: Gouvernement wallon) or Government of Wallonia (french: Gouvernement de Wallonie) is the executive branch of Wallonia, and it is part of one of the six main governments of Belgium. It sits in Namur, where the Parli ...

. Along with other politicians from his party, he was involved in the

Agusta scandal The Agusta scandal (french: Affaire Agusta, nl, Agustaschandaal), alternatively known as the Agusta–Dassault Case, was a major political scandal which occurred in Belgium during the 1990s, based on allegations that two multinational companies ...

, which caused his resignation in 1994. In 1995 he was elected President of the

Walloon Parliament The Parliament of Wallonia (french: Parlement de Wallonie) (Walloon Parliament (french: Parlement wallon) in the decrees) is the legislative body of Wallonia, one of the three self-governing regions of Belgium (the other two being Flanders and t ...

but he had to resign from this office due to the scandal in 1997. Spitaels was convicted for passive bribery by the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

in 1998. His political career would never recover from this scandal. Before the Agusta scandal he was nicknamed Dieu (French for God), a reference to his great influence within the Parti Socialiste, which was the most powerful party of French-speaking Belgium in those days. Spitaels died of a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

at age 80 on 21 August 2012.

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Guy Spitaels
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Spitaels, Guy 1931 births 2012 deaths Belgian Freemasons Belgian Ministers of State Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni College of Europe alumni Deaths from brain tumor Former Roman Catholics Academic staff of the Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) Mayors of places in Belgium Ministers-President of Wallonia Socialist Party (Belgium) politicians Presidents of the Party of European Socialists People from Ath Walloon movement activists

Career

See also

Notes

Sources