Philippe Moureaux | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister-President of the French Community | |
| In office 12 February 1988 – 9 May 1988 | |
| Preceded by | Philippe Monfils |
| Succeeded by | Valmy Féaux |
| In office 22 December 1981 – 9 December 1985 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Philippe Monfils |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 April 1939 Etterbeek, Belgium |
| Died | 15 December 2018 (aged 79) Brussels |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Alma mater | Free University of Belgium, French |
Philippe Moureaux (12 April 1939 – 15 December 2018[1]) was a Belgian politician, senator, mayor of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and professor of economic history at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He held the honorary title of Minister of State and was a member of the Order of Leopold II and the Order of Leopold.
His first government post was a Minister of the Interior and Institutional Reform in the government of Wilfried Martens (Martens III) in 1980. Moureaux's name was attached to the loi contre le racisme et la xénophobie (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 Léon Spiegels at the 1994 council elections. A key part of Moureaux's campaign, then and since, was the involvement of ethnic minorities in the campaign, Mariem Bouselmati of Ecolo 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 municipal elections.
However, Moureaux's attempts at revitalizing the municipality were not successful. An example was the withdrawal of BBDO 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.[2] As a result, serious questions have been raised about governance, security, and the administration of Mayor Moureaux.[3]
