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| August De Schryver | |
|---|---|
| |
| Prime Minister of Belgium | |
| In office 1946–1947 | |
| Monarch | Leopold III |
| Preceded by | Hubert Pierlot |
| Succeeded by | Achille Delattre |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August Edmond De Schryver 16 May 1898 Ghent, Belgium |
| Died | 5 March 1991 Belgium |
| Political party | Catholic Bloc Christian Social Party |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Scheerders (m. 1925, died 1990) |
| Children | 10 |
August Edmond De Schryver (16 May 1898 – 5 March 1991) was a Belgian lawyer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 1946 to 194?. He oversaw the reconstruction of Belgium after the Second World War and is often credited for preventing an outbreak of a civil war in the country.
Early life and career[]
August De Schryver was born on 16 May 1898 to a merchant family in Ghent. He studied at the Barbara College before moving to England for the First World War where he attended a Jesuit college and volunteered in the army. He graduated from the University of Ghent in 1921 and worked as a lawyer in his hometown. During his career as a lawyer, he became involved with Flemish social movements, which led him to become involved in politics. In 1928, De Schryver became a member of the Chamber of Representatives, promoting Flemish emancipation, and in the 1930s he even held several ministerial positions, including the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Justice. After a brief period out of the government, he became Minister of Economic Affairs in 1940 under Hubert Pierlot and followed him to France and later the United Kingdom after the German invasion of Belgium later that year.
Prime Minister[]
De Schryver continued to work in the government in exile in various ministries until the return to Brussels in 1946. Back in Belgium, he was selected as the leader of the new Christian Social Party and, after the resignation of Pierlot, the formateur of the new government by the regent. The new government was composed predominantly from politicians who remained in Belgium during the war, with De Schryver remaining one of the few people from Pierlot’s cabinet who retained a ministerial office. As Prime Minister, De Schryver implemented several social and economic measures as part of the reconstruction of Belgium after the war. De Schryver had to deal with the increasing divide in the Belgian society between the Flemish and Walloon people, which had been encouraged by the German occupying authorities and further increased with the French presence in the country. The French were forced to withdraw from the Low Countries in January 1947 after Allied pressure.
After the French withdrawal, however, the De Schryver government was faced with another issue, which was the return of King Leopold III from his forced exile in Austria. De Schryver considered the return of the monarchy a priority and was willing to overlook Leopold’s wartime activities in order to achieve it; this position was also shared by the rest of his party. His coalition partners were however less willing to see Leopold’s return to Belgium, with the Belgian Socialist Party demanding an immediate abdication and the Liberal Party being torn on this issue. After a parliamentary debate on the topic, De Schryver went to Austria to meet with the King and negotiate his return to Belgium. Leopold’s demands were however rejected by the BSP and LP when De Schryver returned to Belgium. Instead, the BSP submitted a proposal under which the ending of the regency would become a matter of the Parliament. This was rejected by the CSP and caused a deadlock in the government, which prompted De Schryver to hand in his resignation to Charles of Flanders. The regent, however, refused the resignation. BSP threatened to leave the government if the CSP continued to try and arrange Leopold’s return from exile. An agreement was ultimately reached, calling a truce on the Royal Question and preparing the first post-war election in Belgium.
Later career[]
In the 1947 election, De Schryver’s CSP emerged victorious, but remained short of majority by a few seats. De Schryver was approached by Prince Charles to form a new government. His attempts to negotiate a government with the socialists and liberals were unsuccessful and the former Prime Minister resigned as negotiator. After another attempt to form a CSP-led government by Frans Van Cauwelaert failed, Prince Charles appointed Achille Delattre of the BSP to form a government. In 1948, De Schryver refused to lead a government after the collapse of Delattre's cabinet and eventually another BSP-LP coalition government was formed by Paul-Henri Spaak. De Schryver returned to the government as a minister in the cabinet of Paul van Zeeland after unsuccessfully attempting to convince the BSP to join the government in a grand coalition. Following the return of King Leopold to Belgium, De Schryver was one of the politicians who persuaded him to abdicate after rioting began in some Walloon cities.