Up for auction "Belgian Prime Minister" Paul van Zeeland Clipped Signature. 

ES-7245E

Paul Guillaume, Viscount van Zeeland (11 November 1893 – 22 September 1973) was a Belgian lawyer, economist, Catholic politician, and statesman born in Soignies. Van Zeeland was a professor of law and later director of the Institute of Economic Science at the Catholic University of Leuven (Leuven), and vice-governor of the National Bank of Belgium. In March 1935, he became the prime minister of a government of national unity (a coalition comprising the three major parties: Catholics, Liberals and Socialists). Given decree powers, he abated a national economic crisis by devaluing the currency and implementing expansive budgetary policies. Van Zeeland's government resigned in the spring of 1936 due to the agitation of Rexism (a Belgian fascist party), but he regained power (June 1936 – November 1937). After proclaiming martial law, his government suppressed the Rexists. The second Van Zeeland government carried through a progressive social reform programme, introducing a 40-hour workweek and measures against unemployment, which helped ease the political tensions. Also during his second term, Belgium gave up its military alliance with France and reverted to its traditional "neutrality" policy, now dubbed a "policy of independence". In 1939, Van Zeeland became president of the Committee on Refugees, established in London, and was made High Commissioner for repatriating displaced Belgians in 1944. In 1946, he was one of the founders of the European League for Economic Cooperation. After the war, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in several Catholic governments between 1949 and 1954 and as economic advisor to the Belgian government and to the council of ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. He was Honorary Secretary General of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group. In 2013, to the consternation of his family, it was discovered that he had founded a Panamanian offshore company.