Paul Vanden Boeynants

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Paul Vanden Boeynants

| image = Paul Vanden Boeynants 1966.jpg

| caption = Vanden Boeynants in 1966

| office = Prime Minister of Belgium

| monarch = Baudouin

| term_start = 20 October 1978

| term_end = 3 March 1979

| predecessor = Leo Tindemans

| successor = Wilfried Martens

| monarch2 = Baudouin

| term_start2 = 19 March 1966

| term_end2 = 17 June 1968

| predecessor2 = Pierre Harmel

| successor2 = Gaston Eyskens

| office3 = Minister of Defense

| primeminister3 = Gaston Eyskens
Edmond Leburton
Leo Tindemans

| term_start3 = 1972

| term_end3 = 1979

| predecessor3 = Paul Willem Segers

| successor3 = José Desmarets

| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|5|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Forest, Belgium

| death_date = {{death date and age|2001|1|9|1919|5|22|df=y}}

| death_place = Aalst, Belgium

| party = Christian Social Party
Humanist Democratic Centre

}}

Paul Emile François Henri Vanden Boeynants ({{IPA|nl|ˈpʌul vɑndə(m) ˈbuinɑnts|lang|Nl-be paul vanden boeynants.ogg}}, {{IPA|fr|pɔl vandən bujnants|lang}}; 22 May 1919 – 9 January 2001) was a Belgian politician.[http://www.rulers.org/2001-01.html January 2001.] Rulers. Retrieved 30 August 2014. He served as the prime minister of Belgium for two brief periods (1966–68 and 1978–79).

Career

Vanden Boeynants (called "VDB" by journalists) was born in Forest / Vorst, a municipality now in the Brussels-Capital Region. Active as a businessman in the meat industry, he was a Representative for the PSC-CVP between 1949 and 1979. From 1961 to 1966 he led the Christian democrat PSC-CVP (which was in those days a single party). He led the CEPIC, its conservative fraction.

In 1966, he became Prime Minister of Belgium; he stayed in this post for two years. From 1972-1979 he served as minister of defense. In 1978–1979 he led another Belgian government. Vanden Boeynants then served as chairman of the PSC (1979-1981). He left politics in 1995, and died in 2001.

One of his famous expressions, in a unique mixture of Dutch and French, was:

Trop is te veel en te veel is trop. ("too many is too much and too much is too many").

Vanden Boeynants was part of the secretive conservative network Le Cercle.David Teacher (2003). [https://samim.io/dl/2021-rogue-agents-the-cercle-6I-private-cold-war-1951-1991-by-david-teacher-6th-full-edition.pdf Rogue Agents: The Cercle and the 6I in the Private Cold War, 1951-1991.] p. 7

Boeynants led a centre-left cabinet from 1966 to 1968 and another centre-left cabinet from 1978 to 1979. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240416115949/https://www.eumonitor.nl/9353000/1/j9vvik7m1c3gyxp/vgaxlcr0e008 eumonitor page on Belgium (in dutch)]

Fraud

Convicted in 1986 for fraud and tax evasion, Vanden Boeynants was given a suspended jail sentence of three years.[http://www.standaard.be/cnt/nflb09012001_002 "In memoriam"], De Standaard, 9 January 2001 This prevented him from pursuing mayoral aspirations in Brussels. He underwent a political rehabilitation during the early 1990s.

Kidnapping

In an incident that is still the subject of dispute, Vanden Boeynants was kidnapped on 14 January 1989 by members of the Haemers criminal gang.Dick Leonard (16 January 2001) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110318095426/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/paul-vanden-boeynants-728732.html Paul Vanden Boeynants]. The Independent, Retrieved 3 April 2011 Three days later, the criminals published a note in the leading Brussels newspaper Le Soir, demanding 30 million Belgian francs in ransom. Vanden Boeynants was released unharmed a month later, on 13 February, when an undisclosed ransom was paid to the perpetrators. The gang members were caught and imprisoned. Patrick Haemers, the head of the gang, died from suicide in prison,[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/death-sentence-for-gangsters-1408065.html Death sentence for gangsters]. The Independent, 30 January 1994, Retrieved 3 April 2011 and two members of his gang managed to escape from the St Gillis Prison in 1993.

=In popular culture=

The kidnapping was referenced in a 1989 novelty song by the New Beat band Brussels Sound Revolution called "Qui...?", which featured samples from the press conference Vanden Boeynants gave after his kidnapping.{{cite news|url=http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/3384/video/video/detail/1773712/Qui-van-Brussels-Sound-Revolution.dhtml|title='Qui..?' van Brussels Sound Revolution|publisher=Het Laatste Nieuws}}{{cite web|url=http://www.demorgen.be/binnenland/25-jaar-geleden-werd-vdb-ontvoerd-gemarchandeerd-zoals-op-de-beestenmarkt-b88c63e4/|title=25 jaar geleden werd 'VDB' ontvoerd: Gemarchandeerd zoals op de beestenmarkt|first=Door: Stefan|last=Grommen}}{{cite web|url=http://www.whosampled.com/sample/402288/Brussels-Sound-Revolution-Qui...?-RTL-TV1-News-Press-Conference-Paul-Vanden-Boeynants-15-February-1989/|title=Brussels Sound Revolution's 'Qui...?' - Discover the Sample Source|website=www.whosampled.com}} It was a hit on both sides of the Belgian language border. In Flanders, Belgium, it reached the 28th place in the Radio 2 hitparade at the time for one week.{{cite web |url=http://www.radio2.be/top-30/artiest/226 |title=Radio2 Top 30 Artiest: B.s.r. (Brussels Sound Revolution) | Radio2 |access-date=2017-03-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312035816/http://www.radio2.be/top-30/artiest/226 |archive-date=12 March 2017 |df=dmy-all }}

==Marc Dutroux==

Paul Vanden Boeynants was named as a pedophile implicated in the larger Dutroux-affair in the book Dossier pédophilie : le scandale de l'affaire Dutroux (2001). The claims made in the book triggered a defamation suit by the relatives of Vanden Boeynants.{{Cite web |title=Un procès pour délit de presse s'ouvre aux assises de Bruxelles |url=https://www.rtbf.be/article/un-proces-pour-delit-de-presse-s-ouvre-aux-assises-de-bruxelles-8296838 |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=RTBF |language=fr}}

==Anneke Lucas==

In 2023, Anneke Lucas, a child sex trafficking survivor, named Vanden Boeyants as a person who was in charge of a Belgian pedophile network in the early 1970’s. {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=3BzmiV4XsF0 |title=I Was Sold Into An Elite P*dophile Network |date=2023-01-28 |last=Unfiltered Stories |access-date=2024-12-03 |via=YouTube}}

Honours

{{flag|Belgium}}: Minister of State, by Royal Decree.{{cite web|url=http://www.ars-moriendi.be/VAN_DEN_BOEYNANTS.HTM|title=VAN DEN BOEYNANTS|website=www.ars-moriendi.be}}
40px Grand Cordon in the Order of Leopold.
40px Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Leopold II.
40px Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Saints Michael and George.
40px Grand Officer in the Legion of Honour.

Literature

N. Hirson, Paul Vanden Boeynants, Brussels, 1969.
Paul Debogne, Les Amis de Paul Vanden Boeynants et leurs Affaires, Ed. Vie Ouvrière, Brussel, 1970.
R. Stuyck, Paul Vanden Boeynants, boeman of supermen?, Brussels, 1973.
Els Cleemput & Alain Guillaume, La rançon d'une vie. Paul Vanden Boeynants 30 jours aux mains de Patrick Haemers, Brussels, 1990.
D. Ilegems & J. Willems, De avonturen van VDB, Brussels, 1991.
P. Havaux & P. Marlet, Sur la piste du crocodile, Brussels, 1994.
Armand De Decker, In memoriam Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian Senate, 18 January 2001.