Leo Delcroix (21 November 1949 – 2 November 2022) was a Belgian Flemish politician. He was a member of the Christian People's Party (CVP).

Biography

Political career

Delcroix earned a degree in classical philology from the

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp ( nl, Universiteit Antwerpen) is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UA'', but ''UAntwerpen'' is more recently used. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 stud ...

, a law degree from

KU 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 ...

, and later studied economics at the Limburg Universitair Centrum. In 1984, he became national secretary of the CVP and served as a in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from 1991 to 1995. On 7 March 1992, he became

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

within the , a mandate in which he suspended mandatory conscription. He also carried out reforms within the

Belgian Armed Forces The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became indepen ...

with a considerable reduction in the number of soldiers, weapons, and barracks and froze the military budget for five years. He was a founding member of the

Eurocorps Eurocorps, located in the French city of Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), is a multinational corps headquarters. Founded by France and Germany in 1992, it is today composed of personnel from six framework nations and five associated nations. The framework ...

and increasingly deployed the Belgian Armed Forces for operations in Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Rwanda. In 1995, Delcroix was elected to the

Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and as a cultural communi ...

, where he remained until 1999. He was also appointed a , a position he held from June 1995 to June 1999. During that time, he was also a within the Senate. Delcroix was considered to be on the right side of the CVP and repeatedly questioned the ''

cordon sanitaire ''Cordon sanitaire'' () is French for "sanitary cordon". It may refer to: *Cordon sanitaire (medicine), a cordon that quarantines an area during an infectious disease outbreak *Cordon sanitaire (politics), refusal to cooperate with certain politic ...

'' within the ''

Vlaams Blok ''Vlaams Blok'' ( en, Flemish Block, or VB) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence ...

''. In 1999, he retired from politics.

After politics

In January 2001, Delcroix became director of the

Maastricht School of Management The Maastricht School of Management (MSM) is a management school in Maastricht, the Netherlands. From 1 September 2022 MSM is part of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of Maastricht University. MSM's activities in the fields of education ...

. He resigned in October 2003 following his criminal conviction for his role in the "Milieubox affair". He received a boarding premium of 150,000 euros. In April 2010, Delcroix succeeded as vice-chairman of , a position he held until 2020. In September 2010, he succeeded

Theo Kelchtermans Theo Kelchtermans (born 27 June 1943 in Peer, Belgium) is a Belgian politician. Biography Kelchtermans was born on 27 June 1943 in Peer, Belgium. Kelchtermans graduated with a degree in applied psychology at the Catholic University of Leuven. He ...

as chairman of Hasselt University. He resigned in October 2019 due to health concerns and was succeeded by

Jo Vandeurzen Johan Maria Gerardus Vandeurzen (born 2 June 1958) is a Belgian politician, member of ''Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams'' (CD&V), a centrist Flemish Christian Democratic party. Vandeurzen holds a Master of Laws degree from the Catholic Univers ...

Controversies

In November 1994, Delcroix was criticized over his ownership of a villa in

Bormes-les-Mimosas Bormes-les-Mimosas (; oc, Bòrmas dei Mimòsas) is a commune in the Var department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region, southeastern France. It has a Mediterranean climate. Bormes-les-Mimosas is a city in bloom and won the 2003 Gold Medal awar ...

, France, and

unreported employment Unreported employment, also known as money under the table, working under the table, off the books, cash-in-hand, or illicit work is illegal employment that is not reported to the government. The employer or the employee often does so for tax evas ...

for workers who were employed at the residence. After the insistence of CVP party leader

Johan Van Hecke Johan Jozef Marie Clara Van Hecke (born 2 December 1954 in Ghent) is a Belgian politician and Member of the European Parliament for Flanders with the Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and si ...

, he resigned from his role as Minister of Defense. Delcroix was mentioned in multiple judicial investigations related to illegal party financing, such as the affair, the affair, and the . However, he was not officially charged in most cases. However, he was found guilty by a tribunal of first instance in 2003 of for his role in the Milieubox affair. On 30 June 2004, he was acquitted by a

court of appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

because the offenses were time-barred. In 2013, Delcroix was again accused of misconduct in relation to the Belgian delegation at

Expo 2010 Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the t ...

in Shanghai, for which he was questioned by the

Court of Audit A Court of Audit or Court of Accounts is a Supreme audit institution, i.e. a government institution performing financial and/or legal audit (i.e. Statutory audit or External audit) on the executive branch of power. See also *Most of those in ...

. The Court stated in 2013 that "so many rules were broken that control of the finances was simply impossible". Despite this, he was appointed Commissioner General for

Expo 2015 Expo 2015 was a World Expo hosted by Milan, Italy. It opened on May 1 at 10:00 CEST and closed on October 31. Milan hosted an exposition for the second time; the first was the 1906 Milan International. The Bureau International des Expositi ...

in Milan two years later. The Court of Audit again criticized the management of the Belgian delegation at the Expo in 2017.

Death

Leo Delcroix died on 2 November 2022, at the age of 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delcroix, Leo 1949 births 2022 deaths Members of the Senate (Belgium) Members of the Flemish Parliament Ministers of defence of Belgium 20th-century Belgian politicians Christian Democratic and Flemish politicians University of Antwerp alumni KU Leuven alumni People from Kalmthout Belgian bloggers Hasselt University alumni Academic staff of Hasselt University