Hugo Vandenberghe (born in 1942), is a Belgian politician and a professor at
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...
(Law Faculty).
From 1973 to 1977, Hugo Vandenberghe served as advisor in several cabinets of Minister
Leo Tindemans
Leonard Clemence "Leo" Tindemans (; 16 April 1922 – 26 December 2014) was a Belgian politician. He served as the prime minister of Belgium serving from 25 April 1974 until he resigned as minister on 20 October 1978. He was a member of the Chri ...
. From 1984 to 1990, he was member of the European Committee on Human Rights in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
. In 1991, he was co-opted Senator, and, in 1999, he was elected Senator.
Hugo Vandenberghe was the Fraction Leader of the ''
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams'' (CD&V) from 1995 to 2003. Following the federal elections of 2003, he became Vice President of the Senate and President of the Senate's Justice Committee. Although he sits on several Senate committees and has served as President of the Special Investigating Committee on
Organized Crime, Hugo Vandenberghe is regarded as a Law and
Justice specialist within the CD&V. In particular, he is known for advocating amendments to existing legislation and for proposing new legislation.
Although Hugo Vandenberghe has a conservative profile within the CD&V, he has been considered to be a negotiator. For instance, in the ethical debates on
gay marriage and
euthanasia
Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different eut ...
since the 1990s, he has striven for multilateral agreement, although not always successfully. Since 1999, when the ''
Christelijke Volkspartij
Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations (UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party wa ...
'' (CVP, renamed ''Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams'' in 2001) became an opposition party, Hugo Vandenberghe has been opposed to the new Belgian law on euthanasia of the Liberal-Socialist-Green coalition.
Honour
*
Two Sicilian Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross of Merit of the
Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George[https://constantinianorder.net/2022/12/?lang=en]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandenberghe, Hugo
1942 births
Christian Democratic and Flemish politicians
Members of the Senate (Belgium)
Living people
Academic staff of KU Leuven