Philippe Moureaux (12 April 1939 – 15 December 2018) was a Belgian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, senator, mayor of

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated b ...

, and professor of

economic history Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and i ...

at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He held the

honorary title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

and was a member of the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgium ...

and the Order of Leopold.

Minister

His first government post was a Minister of the Interior and Institutional Reform in the government 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 ...

(Martens III) in 1980. Moureaux's name was attached to the ( Law against Racism and Xenophobia) of 30 July 1981 as he was then serving as Minister of Justice. Resigning from the Federal Government in 1993, Moureaux's coalition defeated the incumbent mayor of Molenbeek at the 1994 council elections. A key part of Moureaux's campaign, then and since, was the involvement of ethnic minorities in the campaign, of

Ecolo Ecolo, officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales'', (English: Confederate Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles)'' is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The ...

being the first Belgian of Moroccan origin elected in Molenbeek. In 2004, as a senator, Moureaux submitted the law granting the

right of foreigners to vote In most countries, suffrage, the right to vote, is generally limited to citizens of the country. In some countries voting rights are extended to resident non-citizens. Such rights are often restricted or limited in some ways, with the details of th ...

in municipal elections. However, Moureaux's attempts at revitalizing the municipality were not successful. An example was the withdrawal of

BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...

in June 2011 from the town. In an open letter addressed to Moureaux, ten employees of this American advertising agency cited over 150 attacks on their staff by locals as principal reason for their departure. As a result, serious questions have been raised about governance, security, and the administration of Mayor Moureaux.

Honours

* 3 December 1987 : Commander in the Order of Leopold. * 19 May 1995 : Knight Grand cross in the

Select bibliography

*''Les comptes d'une société charbonnière à la fin de l'Ancien Régime (La société de Redemont à Haine-St-Pierre - La Hestre)''. Brussels, Palais des Académies, 1969. 248 p., illustrated, (Commission Royale d'Histoire).

References

External links

New York Times article on role of Phillipe Moureaux in Molenbeeck radicalization
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moureaux, Philippe 1939 births 2018 deaths People from Uccle Belgian Ministers of Justice Ministers-President of the French Community of Belgium Belgian Ministers of State Mayors of places in Belgium Members of the Senate (Belgium) People from Etterbeek People from Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Socialist Party (Belgium) politicians Recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II 21st-century Belgian politicians