Achille Van Acker

Achille Van Acker
Prime Minister of Belgium
In office 23 April 1954 – 26 June 1958
Monarch	Baudouin
Preceded by	Jean Van Houtte
Succeeded by	Gaston Eyskens
In office 31 March 1946 – 3 August 1946
Monarch	Charles (Regent)
Preceded by	Paul-Henri Spaak
Succeeded by	Camille Huysmans
In office 12 February 1945 – 13 March 1946
Monarch	Charles (Regent)
Preceded by	Hubert Pierlot
Succeeded by	Paul-Henri Spaak
President of the Chamber of Representatives
In office 27 April 1961 – 30 April 1974
Preceded by	Paul Kronacker
Succeeded by	André Dequae
Personal details
Born	(1898-04-08)8 April 1898 Bruges, Belgium
Died	10 July 1975(1975-07-10) (aged 77) Bruges, Belgium
Political party	Socialist Party

Achille Honoré Van Acker (8 April 1898 – 10 July 1975) was the 33rd Prime Minister of Belgium in four different cabinets from 1945 to 1958, for a total period of seven years. He was a member of the BSP-PSB – the then still national Belgian Socialist Party. He was nicknamed Achille Charbon.

Biography

Van Acker was born in Bruges on 8 April 1898 in a family with 12 children. Van Acker only went to school until his 10th year. Van Acker became a member of the city council of Bruges in 1926. The following year the 29-year-old Van Acker was elected to the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives. During the Second World War, Van Acker organised the Vlaamse Centrale der Illegale Partij. In December 1944, while serving as a government minister, Van Acker implemented Belgium's social security system.^[1]

After the Second World War, Van Acker became Prime Minister of Belgium in four different cabinets and served as Minister of Labour and Social Services, Minister of Public Health, Minister of Mobility and Minister of Mining (which led to his nickname). From 1961 until 1974 he served as President of the Chamber of Representatives. He was named Minister of State in 1958. During Van Acker's first premiership, compulsory disability insurance^[2] and compulsory health insurance for manual and non-manual workers was introduced in March 1945, and from January 1946 onwards health insurance funds earmarked a special contribution that covered the costs of preventive open-air cures.^[3] To improve health and safety in mines, a Decree was introduced in December 1945 provididing for the compulsory use in dusty places of devices “capable of allaying or suppressing coal and stone dust.”^[4] A number of laws were also passed from April 1945 onwards that liberalized entitlement to allowances for deportees of foreign nationality.^[5]

An Order of October 1945 issued general regulations for the medical control of workers in industrial and commercial undertakings, public services and public utilities. Another Order introduced that same month issued general regulations concerning personal equipment for health protection.^[6] Following a 1940 law that enabled homeowners wishing to begin reconstruction of their properties to apply for a “repair loan at a low rate of interest, an Act was passed in December 1945 that enabled them to acquire an interest-free advance on their compensation.^[7] That same month, a Supreme Council for Hygiene in Mines was established with the aim of furthering the progress of industrial hygiene.^[8] In February 1946, the formation of safety and hygiene committees was made compulsory.^[9] In September 1945, workers’ compensation was extended to household maids, and for accidents to and from work in December 1945.^[10] A Legislative Order of January 1946 regulating annual holidays covered all persons “bound by contracts for the hiring of services or by contracts of apprenticeship,” and laid down the essential principles for the grant of paid holidays, “leaving scope for their adaptation to the special needs of the various branches of industrial activity.”^[11]

The first three cabinets led by Van Acker were short-lived because of the crisis pertaining to Leopold III which held Belgium in its grip from 1944–1951.

Initiatives were taken by Van Acker's fourth cabinet to expand social spending on pensions, housing, employment, and education. Steps were also taken to reduce the workweek and to reduce the term of compulsory military service from 21 to 18 months.^[12] A 45-hour workweek was introduced in 1955, and in 1956 a law was passed that doubled holiday leave entitlement from 6 to 12 days.^[13] Earnings-related pension schemes were introduced for manual workers (1955), seamen (1956), and white-collar workers (1957).^[14] Allowances were introduced in 1955^[15] to cover demolition and rehousing while pension contributions were made obligatory in 1956.^[16] An Act of June 1954 increased the minimum pension and introduced index-lining of for pension benefits, while an Act of July 1957 introduced a wage-related pension formula for white-collar workers.^[17] Under the 1955 Collard Act, municipalities could only admit private schools “after they had created public-sector ones and only where there a need for them was felt.”^[18] New schools were also built, while in the 1956 budget, provision was made (for the first time) the purchase by the State of school supplies for “the benefit of pupils in primary and nursery-infant sections attached to State secondary education establishments."^[19] In addition, a law of March 1958 made public authorities responsible for the cost of transporting (where necessary) abnormal and similarly handicapped children to special schools.^[20]

Altogether, the various social reforms realised under Van Acker's fourth cabinet led him to be known as the father of Belgian social security.

References

Prime Ministers of Belgium de Gerlache Lebeau de Muelenaere Goblet d'Alviella de Theux de Meylandt Lebeau Nothomb Van de Weyer de Theux de Meylandt Rogier de Brouckère de Decker Rogier Frère-Orban d'Anethan Malou Frère-Orban Malou Beernaert de Burlet de Smet de Naeyer Vandenpeereboom de Smet de Naeyer de Trooz Schollaert de Broqueville Cooreman Delacroix Carton de Wiart Theunis Van de Vyvere Poullet Jaspar Renkin de Broqueville Theunis van Zeeland Janson Spaak Pierlot Van Acker Spaak Van Acker Huysmans Spaak G. Eyskens Duvieusart Pholien Van Houtte Van Acker G. Eyskens Lefèvre Harmel Vanden Boeynants G. Eyskens Leburton Tindemans Vanden Boeynants Martens M. Eyskens Martens Dehaene Verhofstadt Leterme Van Rompuy Leterme Di Rupo Michel