Robert Senelle (8 September 1918 – 13 February 2013) was a Belgian academic and
constitutionalist.
Biography
Senelle was born in the at that time still quite
Flemish north
Brussels suburb of
Schaerbeek, and grew up in nearby
Vilvoorde. He studied law at
the Free University of Brussels before starting a legal career at the
Brussels bar. After
the liberation
''The Liberation'' is the third full-length album by German metal band Disillusion. It was released on September 6, 2019, via Prophecy Productions. It is the band's first album in 13 years, due to creative, personal, and legal issues band membe ...
, in September 1944, he progressed, becoming in 1946 a judge at
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
and, in 1947, a
Courts-martial magistrate. In 1949 he became an auditor at the
Council of State, which gave him the opportunity to extend his network of contacts in the county's legal establishment.
Achille Van Acker became prime minister in 1954 and Senelle, a fellow
socialist, became his deputy chief of staff, progressing during the government's
four year term to become chief of staff himself.
The government fell in 1958 and Robert Senelle's career moved to the
University of
Ghent where he was appointed professor of
constitutional law. Over time he became one of the most prominent specialists in this field, and was later selected to supervise, for two years, the constitutional studies of the
present king.
Constitutional vision
Senelle was a committed federalists, advocating the replacement of Belgium's ambiguous structure of regional and local powers with two principal federal states of (Dutch speaking) Flanders and (Francophone) Wallonia, each enjoying a large measure of autonomy over fiscal and social policy. The Brussels-capital region and the small German speaking region transferred to Belgium in 1919 should also receive clarified and enhanced levels of autonomy. Senelle found the extent of federal empowerment allowed under the existing structures was half-formed. It needed, for its completion, the additional transfers of constitutional powers to safeguard the future of Belgium. For the monarchy, he counseled rigid neutrality and minimal constitutional powers, but no diminution of status or prestige.
Distinction
UBEMA-AWARD21 March 2005 for judicial interventions in respect of the art market.
Bibliography
* ''A l'attention de Sa Majesté Le Roi'' ()
* ''Het federale België van de Gemeenschappen en de Gewesten'' (e.a.) ()
* ''Handboek voor de koning (e.a.)'' ()
* ''Kronieken van de Vlaamse staatswording: over de identiteit van het Vlaming-zijn''(together with E. Clement en E. Vandevelde)
References
External links
interview 27/03/2006interview 30/07/2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Senelle, Robert
1918 births
2013 deaths
People from Schaerbeek
20th-century Belgian judges
Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni