Guy Spitaels
Encyclopedia
Guy G. A. Gh. Spitaels (born 3 September 1931 in Ath
Ath
Ath is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Hainaut. The Ath municipality includes the old communes of Lanquesaint, Irchonwelz, Ormeignies, Bouvignies, Ostiches, Rebaix, Maffle, Arbre, Houtaing, Ligne, Mainvault, Moulbaix, Villers-Notre-Dame, Villers-Saint-Amand, Ghislenghien...

) is a Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 politician of the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (francophone Belgium)
The Socialist Party is a Francophone social-democratic political party in Belgium. As of the 2010 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party...

. He graduated in 1957 in political and social sciences at the Universite Catholique de Louvain
Université catholique de Louvain
The Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels...

 (UCL).

He was Minister-President of Wallonia from 1992 to 1994 and president of his party for quite a while until being succeeded by Philippe Busquin
Philippe Busquin
Philippe Busquin is a Belgian politician. He was Member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009 for the French Community of Belgium with the Parti Socialiste, part of the Socialist Group and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. Busquin was the chairman...

.

Federalism

With him and André Cools
André Cools
André H.P. Cools was a Belgian socialist politician who died by assassination.-Political career:Cools had a long and distinguished political career...

, the PS played a leading role in transformation the unitary structures of the Belgian state into a federalist system. The transformation was largely accomplished by 1989 and completely formalized in 1993.

Along with other politicians from his party, he was involved in the Agusta scandal
Agusta scandal
The Agusta scandal or the Case Agusta-Dassault was a Belgian corruption scandal. It resulted from the purchase of military helicopter of the Agusta A109 Agusta-type by the Belgian Army in 1988, where Agusta and Dassault bribed various office holders...

 in 1995. His political career would never recover from this scandal.

Before the Agusta scandal he was nicknamed Dieu (French for God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

), a reference to his great influence within the Parti Socialiste, which was the most powerful party of French-speaking Belgium in those days.

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