1.
Coat of arms of Belgium
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The coat of arms of Belgium bears a lion or, known as Leo Belgicus, as its charge. A royal decree of 17 March 1837 determines the achievement to be used in the greater, the shield is emblazoned, Sable, a lion rampant or, armed and langued gules. It is surmounted by a helmet with raised visor, with mantling or and sable, behind the shield are placed a hand of justice and a sceptre with a lion. The grand collar of the Order of Leopold surrounds the shield, two lions guardant proper support the shield as well as a lance with the national colours black, yellow and red. Underneath the compartment is placed the motto Lunion fait la force in French or Eendracht maakt macht in Dutch, the riband of the motto is red, with black stripes on either side. Since the Royal Decree of 1837 never received an official translation, the whole is placed on a red mantle with ermine lining and golden fringes and tassels, ensigned with the royal crown. Above the mantle rise banners with the arms of the nine provinces that constituted Belgium in 1837 and they are Antwerp, West Flanders, East Flanders, Liège, Brabant, Hainaut, Limburg, Luxembourg and Namur. The greater arms are used only rarely and they adorn the great seal that is affixed to laws and international treaties. Since the province of Brabant was split into Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Brussels in 1995, the changes made to the arms of the Flemish provinces as a result of this decision are not reflected in the great seal either. The lesser coat of arms consists of the shield, the crown, the crossed sceptres, the collar of the Order of Leopold. The newly independent Kingdom of Belgium decided to base its coat of arms and these came into being after the Southern Netherlands threw off Austrian rule. It existed as an independent polity from January to December 1790, the Duchy of Brabant had taken the lead in the so-called Brabant Revolution, the insurrection against Emperor Joseph II, and afterwards dominated the United Netherlandish States. Therefore, the Lion of Brabant came to stand for the entire federation, the crown stood for sovereignty, the sword for the war against Spain and the arrows for the concord and unity among the rebellious provinces. At first the lion of the Republic of the United Provinces had the Brabant colours or on sable, the Dutch Revolt likewise provided the motto Unity Makes Strength. The inscription of the seal of 1578 reads Concordia res parvae crescunt, soon Dutch sources used the translation Eendracht maekt magt. The United States of Belgium of 1790 used the Latin version In Unione Salus and their motto was in turn taken over and translated into French by the Kingdom of Belgium in 1831. It was only in 1958 that it was decided that the official Dutch translation should read Eendracht maakt macht, les origines du sceau de lEtat belge, in, Roger Harmignies, ed. Sources de lhéraldique en Europe occidentale, 201-225, wapens van de Nederlanden, De historische ontwikkeling van de heraldische symbolen van Nederlanden, België, hun provincies en Luxemburg
2.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
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Separation of powers
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The separation of powers, often imprecisely and metonymically used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The typical division of branches is into a legislature, an executive, and it can be contrasted with the fusion of powers in some parliamentary systems where the executive and legislature are unified. Separation of powers, therefore, refers to the division of responsibilities into distinct branches to any one branch from exercising the core functions of another. The intent is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks, aristotle first mentioned the idea of a mixed government or hybrid government in his work Politics where he drew upon many of the constitutional forms in the city-states of Ancient Greece. In the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate, Consuls and the Assemblies showed an example of a government according to Polybius. John Calvin favoured a system of government that divided political power between democracy and aristocracy, Calvin appreciated the advantages of democracy, stating, It is an invaluable gift if God allows a people to elect its own government and magistrates. In this way, Calvin and his followers resisted political absolutism, Calvin aimed to protect the rights and the well-being of ordinary people. In 1620, a group of English separatist Congregationalists and Anglicans founded Plymouth Colony in North America, enjoying self-rule, they established a bipartite democratic system of government. Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, books like William Bradfords History of Plymoth Plantation were widely read in England. So the form of government in the colonies was well known in the mother country, the term tripartite system is ascribed to French Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu described the separation of power among a legislature, an executive. Montesquieus approach was to present and defend a form of government which was not excessively centralized in all its powers to a monarch or similar ruler. He based this model on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, Montesquieu took the view that the Roman Republic had powers separated so that no one could usurp complete power. In the British constitutional system, Montesquieu discerned a separation of powers among the monarch, Parliament, Montesquieu did actually specify that the independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not apparent merely. The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of powers, independent and unchecked, typically this was accomplished through a system of checks and balances, the origin of which, like separation of powers itself, is specifically credited to Montesquieu. Constitutions with a degree of separation of powers are found worldwide. The UK system is distinguished by a particular entwining of powers, a number of Latin American countries have electoral branches of government. Countries with little separation of power include New Zealand and Canada, Canada makes limited use of separation of powers in practice, although in theory it distinguishes between branches of government
4.
Unitary state
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The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government. Of the 193 UN member states,165 of them are governed as unitary states, unitary states are contrasted with federal states. In a unitary state, sub-national units are created and abolished, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an example of a unitary state. Many unitary states have no areas possessing a degree of autonomy, in such countries, sub-national regions cannot decide their own laws. Examples are the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway, in federal states, the sub-national governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution, to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the units have a right of existence. The United States of America is an example of a federal state, under the U. S. Constitution, powers are shared between the federal government and the states
5.
State reform in Belgium
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In general, Belgium evolved from a unitary state to a federal state with communities, regions and language areas. First state reform – Cultural communities established, second state reform – Cultural communities become communities, with more competences related to personal matters. Territorial Flemish and Walloon regions established, Communities and Regions get their own Parliaments and Governments. Third state reform – Education transferred to communities, fourth state reform – Belgium becomes a fully-fledged federal state. Communities and Regions get more freedom and their Parliaments are now directly elected, fifth state reform – More competences to the Regions. Refinancing of the Communities and Regions, sixth state reform – More competences to the Regions and Communities. The constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde was split, refinancing of the Communities and Regions. The tensions between the communities of Belgium arose around a struggle between the two main communities of the country, Dutch and French. This resulted in extensive legislation, but which did not solve the conflicts between Flanders and Wallonia, the two main regions of the country. After World War II, the differences between Dutch-speaking Belgians and French-speaking Belgians became clear in a number of conflicts, in 1950, a referendum on the position of King Leopold III was held, the Royal Question. The question asked was whether he should be allowed to return to the throne, nationally, 58% of voters supported the restoration of Leopold III. However, there were regional differences. Of those who voted, 72% percent of the people in Flanders were in favor of his return, while a majority of voters in Wallonia, with the support of greater than half of Belgians, Leopold III returned to the throne. Following his restoration, anger among Leopolds opponents in Wallonia and Brussels grew into rioting that the government had struggled to contain, pressure from the government forced Leopold III to abdicate. In 1960, the Catholic–Liberal government of Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens introduced a number of budget cuts, french-language trade unions went on strike against the cuts and against the government. They felt that a more regionalized system was needed to take the measures that Wallonia needed and they felt that the Walloon interests were hurt by a Flemish majority in Belgium, they spoke of un état belgo-flamand, a Belgian-Flemish state. In response to the strikes, the government announced a regionalization of socio-economic policies, another tension between the language communities involved the Catholic University of Leuven. The university had for long been French-speaking, but Dutch played an important role in the twentieth century
6.
Federation
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A federation is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central government. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism and it can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Federations are often multiethnic and cover an area of territory. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, at some time, that is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at such as ethnicity and language. The Old Swiss Confederacy was an example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, the oldest continuous federation, and a role model for many subsequent federations, is the United States. Some of the New World federations failed, the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states ten years after its founding, others, such as Argentina and Mexico, have shifted between federal, confederal, and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy, australia and Canada are also federations. Germany is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815, the North German Confederation, the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Malaysia became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire. In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq since 2005. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government, however, a federation is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy, however, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others, an example of such a federation is Malaysia, in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia. A federation often emerges from an agreement between a number of separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former was the case with the United States and Switzerland, however, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models
7.
Belgian official journal
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The Belgian official journal is the official journal of the Kingdom of Belgium. It is where the publication of laws, royal decrees, decrees, ordinances. The publication is handled by the Federal Department of Justice, any new law or changes to it made by the government can only take effect once it has been published in the Staatsblad/Moniteur. Other legal formalities about which the Belgian people need to be informed, the journal was established on 16 June 1831. During World War II, the journal was published separately but under the title by both the Belgian government in exile and the occupying authority. In order to distinguish between the two, the government in exile version is retrospectively entitled Belgian Official Journal, to save money, the paper version of the Staatsblad/Moniteur was replaced by an electronic equivalent in 2003 and is available to the public on the Internet
8.
Constitutional Court (Belgium)
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The Constitutional Court plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980 and its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003. Founded as the Court of Arbitration, the court owes its existence to the development of the Belgian unitary state into a federal state, the Court of Arbitration was officially inaugurated in the Belgian Senate on 1 October 1984. On 5 April 1985 it delivered its first judgment, in May 2007, upon a change of the Belgian Constitution, the court was renamed Constitutional Court as this name is more in keeping with the actual jurisdiction of the court. With a special law of 2003, this competence was expanded to the Section II, the Court is therefore developing into a constitutional court. The court has two modi operandi, when the Court decides to annul a law, decree or ordinance it counts erga omnes, for all persons. The second modus operandus of the court are the preliminary issues, when the Court finds a breach of these articles, it will pronounce its decision inter partes, meaning the ruling has effect only between the parties of the specific case. Such a judgement, however, has great value and will force the parliament which made the targeted law. The Court is composed of 12 judges appointed for their lifetime by the King within a list of candidates provided by the federal parliament. The list to fill a vacancy contains two candidates proposed alternately by the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate by a majority of at least two-thirds of the members present. Each linguistic group is composed of three judges with a background and three judges who have had at least five years experience as members of parliament. Candidates must be at least forty years of age, the judges may hold office until they reach seventy years of age, when they retire from the bench. In other words, the law, decree or ordinance must be harmful to the party submitting the appeal, cases can also be heard by the whole Court if either President so decides or if at least two judges of the ordinary panel of seven judges so requests. If cases are heard by the whole Court, the Court cannot rule unless at least 10 judges, in this case, if the votes are equally divided, the President of the Court has a casting vote. The appeal must include the subject of the appeal and must be motivated, the party submitting the appeal can also request that the law, decree or ordinance in question be suspended pending a final ruling by the Court. Communities, regions and provinces of Belgium Constitution of Belgium Judiciary Politics of Belgium Rule According to Higher Law Rule of law Homepage of the Constitutional Court of Belgium
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Constitutional court
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A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i. e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established rights. The list in this article is of countries that have a constitutional court. Nonetheless, such courts are also called constitutional courts. Countries with separate constitutional courts include, Constitution Constitutionalism Constitutional economics Judiciary Jurisprudence Rule of law Rule According to Higher Law
10.
Politics of Belgium
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Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, the federation is made up of communities and regions. Since around 1970, the significant national Belgian political parties have split into distinct representations for each communities interests besides defense of their ideologies. These parties belong to three main families, though close to the centre, the right-wing Liberals, the social conservative Christian Democrats. Other important newer parties are the Green parties and, nowadays mainly in Flanders, politics is influenced by lobby groups, such as trade unions and employers organizations such as the Federation of Belgian Enterprises. Majority rule is often superseded by a de facto decision making process where the minority enjoy important protections through specialty majorities. The Constitution of Belgium, the source of law and the basis of the political system of the Country, was established on February 7,1831. It has been changed several times, but the most relevant reforms were performed in 1970, in 1993 the parliament approved a constitutional package transforming Belgium into a full-fledged federal state. The King of the Belgians is the head of the Belgian state. The duties of the king are laid out by the Belgian Constitution, as titular head of state, the King plays a ceremonial and symbolic role in the nation. His main political function is to designate a leader to form a new cabinet after an election or the resignation of a cabinet. In conditions where there is a vote of no-confidence, the government has to resign. The King is also seen as playing a symbolic unifying role, philippe succeeded his father Albert II on 21 July 2013 upon his abdication. Members of the Federal Government, who are appointed by the King, are in fact drawn from the political parties which form the government coalition. The Federal Government must enjoy the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives, the total number of Ministers, excluding the Prime Minister, cannot exceed 15. Also, the number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers must be equal, Ministers head executive departments of the government. The Prime Minister and his ministers administer the government and the public services. They rely on a system of revenue-sharing for funds and they have the authority to levy a very few taxes and to contract loans
11.
Monarchy of Belgium
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The monarchy of Belgium is a constitutional, popular and hereditary monarchy whose incumbent is titled the King or Queen of the Belgians and serves as the countrys head of state. There have been seven Belgian monarchs since independence in 1830, the incumbent, Philippe, ascended the throne on 21 July 2013, following the abdication of his father. When Belgium became independent in 1830 the National Congress chose a constitutional monarchy as the form of government, the Congress voted on the question on 22 November 1830, supporting monarchy by 174 votes to 13. Following this refusal, the National Congress appointed Erasme-Louis, Baron Surlet de Chokier to be the Regent of Belgium on 25 February 1831 and this day has since become a national holiday for Belgium and its citizens. As a hereditary constitutional monarchy system, the role and operation of Belgiums monarchy is governed by the Constitution, the royal office of King is designated solely for a descendant of the first King of the Belgians, Leopold I. Since he is bound by the Constitution the King is intended to act as an arbiter and guardian of Belgian national unity, Belgiums monarchs are inaugurated in a purely civil swearing-in ceremony. The Kingdom of Belgium was never an absolute monarchy, nevertheless, in 1961, the historian Ramon Arango, wrote that the Belgian monarchy is not truly constitutional. King Leopold I was head of Foreign Affairs as an ancien régime monarch, millions of Congolese were killed as a result of Leopolds policies in the Congo. On several occasions Leopold II publicly expressed disagreement with ruling government and was accused by Yvon Gouet of noncompliance with the parliamentary system. In a similar manner, Albert I of Belgium would later state that he was in command of the Belgian army contrary to his Prime Minister Charles de Broqueville, Louis Wodon, thought the Kings oath to the Constitution implied a royal position over and above the Constitution. The family is, of course, an institution as is the state. But what would a family be where everything was limited among those who compose it to simply legal relationships. For Raymond Fusilier, the Belgian monarchy had to be placed - at least in the beginning - between the regimes where the rules and those in which the king does not rule. The Belgian monarchy is closer to the principle the King does not rule But the Belgian kings were not only at the head of the part of the Constitution. For Francis Delpérée, to reign does not only mean to preside over ceremonies, the Belgian historian Jean Stengers wrote that some foreigners believe the monarchy is indispensable to national unity. He is only a piece on the chessboard, but a piece which matters, to date all have belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. This is a tree of the Kings of the Belgians, hereditary. Dutch monarchs family tree The proper title of the Belgian monarch is King of the Belgians rather than King of Belgium, the title indicates a popular monarchy linked to the people of Belgium, whereas King of Belgium would indicate standard constitutional or absolute monarchy linked to territory or state
12.
Philippe of Belgium
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Philippe is the seventh king of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013, following his fathers abdication. He is the eldest child of King Albert II, whom he succeeded upon Alberts abdication for health reasons and he married Countess Mathilde dUdekem dAcoz, with whom he has four children. King Philippes elder daughter, Princess Elisabeth, is next in the line of succession, Philippe was born on 15 April 1960 during the reign of his uncle, King Baudouin of Belgium. His father, Prince Albert, Prince of Liège was the son of King Leopold III of Belgium. His mother, Paola, Princess of Liège, is a daughter of Italian aristocrat Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda. His mother descends from the French House of La Fayette, and he was born at the Belvédère Castle in Laeken north of Brussels. He was baptised one month later at the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels on 17 May and his godparents were his paternal grandfather, King Leopold III, and his maternal grandmother, Donna Luisa, Princess Ruffo di Calabria. From 1978 to 1981, Philippe was educated at the Belgian Royal Military Academy in the 118th Promotion Toutes Armes, on 26 September 1980, he was appointed second lieutenant and took the officers oath. He continued his education at Trinity College, Oxford and he attended school at Stanford University, California. He obtained his pilots wings and his certificates as a parachutist. In 1989, he attended a series of sessions at the Royal Higher Defence Institute. The same year, he was promoted to Colonel, on 25 March 2001, the Prince was appointed to the rank of Major-General in the Land Component and the Air Component and to the rank of Rear-Admiral in the Naval Component. He succeeded his father, who had been Honorary Chairman of the BFTB since 1962, on 3 May 2003, Philippe was appointed Honorary chairman of the board of the Foreign Trade Agency, replacing the BFTB. In this capacity, Philippe has headed more than 60 economic missions, upon his accession as seventh King of the Belgians, this role was taken over by his sister Princess Astrid. King Albert II announced on 3 July 2013 that he would abdicate in favour of Philippe on 21 July 2013, approximately one hour after King Albert IIs abdication, Prince Philippe was sworn in as King of the Belgians. His eldest child, Princess Elisabeth became his heir apparent and is expected to become Belgiums first queen regnant,26 September 1980 –21 March 1983, Belgian Air Force, Second lieutenant. January – end March 1983, Platoon leader, 15th Comp, 3rd Parachutists Battalion of the Paracommando Regt 21 March 1983 –1 December 1989, Belgian Air Force, Captain. 1 December 1989 –5 April 2001, Belgian Air Force, Colonel Belgian Army, since 21 July 2013, Belgian Air Component, General Belgian Land Component, General Belgian Marine Component, Admiral
13.
Duke of Brabant
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The Duke of Brabant was formally the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, the Duchy of Brabant was a feudal elevation of the since 1085/1086 existing title of Landgrave of Brabant. This was an Imperial fief which was assigned to Count Henry III of Leuven shortly after the death of the preceding Count of Brabant, Count Palatine Herman II of Lotharingia. Although the corresponding county was quite small its name was applied to the country under control of the Dukes from the 13th century on. In 1190, after the death of Godfrey III, Henry I also became Duke of Lotharingia, formerly Lower Lotharingia, this title was now practically without territorial authority, but was borne by the later Dukes of Brabant as an honorific title. In 1288, the Dukes of Brabant became also Duke of Limburg, the title fell to the Dukes of Burgundy in 1430. Counts of Leuven, Counts of Brussels and Landgraves of Brabant, Henry III, already Count of Leuven and Brussels from 1078. The oldest Son/daughter becomes automatically the duke/duchess of Brabant when his/her father becomes King of the Belgians, when the Duke of Brabant loses his father, or when he abdicates, his title goes to the next in line, and he becomes the new King of the Belgians. Unlike the office of King of the Belgians, you do not have to reach the age of 18 to become Duke of Brabant, however, if a Duke of Brabant does not reach the age of 18, he cannot ascent to the Throne of Belgium. When the prince becomes duke of Brabant, this takes precedence of the other titles. When the Duke of Brabant marries legally, after permission of the King, the last Duke of Brabant became King in 2013, and passed the title to his oldest child. The current Duchess, Crown Princess Elisabeth was in 2013 only 12 years old when she became duchess, Leopold II Leopold, son of Leopold II - the only prince who died a Duke of Brabant. Leopold III Baudouin Philippe Elisabeth Coat of arms of Elisabeth of Belgium, Duchess of Brabant Dukes of Brabant family tree Charters of the Duchy of Brabant Counts of Louvain, genealogical note
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Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant
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Crown Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Princess of Belgium, is the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. The eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, she acquired her position after her grandfather King Albert II abdicated in favour of her father on 21 July 2013. The first child of the then Duke and Duchess of Brabant, Elisabeth was delivered by caesarian section at 21,58 pm on 25 October 2001 at the Hôpital Erasme in Anderlecht, Brussels. She was baptized on 9 December 2001 in the chapel of Ciergnon Castle in the Belgian Ardennes, by Cardinal Godfried Danneels and her godparents are Archduke Amedeo of Austria-Este, and Countess Hélène dUdekem dAcoz. She has two brothers, Prince Gabriel and Prince Emmanuel, and a younger sister, Princess Eléonore. This is a significant change in the habits of the royal family, Elisabeth also attends dance classes conducted in Dutch at the Municipal Music Academy in Asse, in Flemish Brabant. Elisabeth speaks Dutch, French and German, in 2006, she attended the Te Deum in honour of Belgian National Day. In 2007, she accompanied her father to the opening of Technopolis and she also attended the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition and the presentation at the Royal Palace of a model of the Belgian Antarctic station which bears her name, Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. She was a bridesmaid to the weddings of her aunts, Elisabeth, when she married Margrave Alfonso Pallavicini in 2006 and Hélène. In 2014, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin and godfather, Prince Amedeo. On 21 July 2013, once her father had taken the oath of office as King of the Belgians, Princess Elisabeth became heir apparent to the throne, in October 2014, Elisabeth gave a speech in honour of the First World War commemoration. On 6 May 2015, Elisabeth made a speech before christening a ship Pollux, if she ascends the throne as expected, she will be Belgiums first queen regnant. Instead the title was abolished, as French Hainaut was not considered linguistically neutral for the title to be conferred on her as the Countess of Hainaut suo jure, the official website of the Belgian Royal Family Belgian Monarchy-Princess Elisabeth Best of Princess Elisabeth
15.
Crown Council of Belgium
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The Crown Council of Belgium is composed of the King of the Belgians, the Ministers and the Ministers of State. The constitutional Monarch chairs the Crown Council, which has no legal competence, the title of Minister of State is given as an honorary title, with no view to any possible Crown Council meeting. None of the living Ministers of State have ever participated in a Crown Council session, during the 2007–08 Belgian government formation though, King Albert II formally asked the help of several Ministers of State with experience in solving political crises. Some political analysts saw this as comparable to the Crown Council, commonly, Ministers of State are appointed to formal offices is the process of forming a government or to solve a cabinet crisis. André Molitor, La Fonction Royale en Belgique, CRISP,1979
16.
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a German dynasty, the line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Due to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I, George V changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg, the same happened in 1920 in Belgium, where it was changed to van de Belgen or des Belges. The first duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was Ernest I, who reigned from 1826 until his death in 1844 and he had previously been Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld from 1806 until the duchy was reorganized in 1826. Ernsts younger brother Leopold became King of the Belgians in 1831, léopolds only daughter, Princess Charlotte of Belgium, was the consort of Maximilian I of Mexico, known as the Empress Carlota of Mexico, in the 1860s. Ernsts nephew Ferdinand married Queen Maria II of Portugal, and his descendants continued to rule Portugal until that became a republic in 1910. Ernest Is second son, Prince Albert, married Queen Victoria in 1840, in 1826, a cadet branch of the house inherited the Hungarian princely estate of Koháry, and converted to Roman Catholicism. Its members managed to marry a princess of Brazil, an archduchess of Austria, a royal princess of the French, a royal princess of Belgium. A scion of this branch, also named Ferdinand, became Prince, and then Tsar, of Bulgaria, according to the House law of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha the full title of the Duke was, There were two official residences, in Gotha and Coburg. Therefore, the ducal court, including the Court Theater, had to move twice a year, from Gotha to Coburg for the summer. For the Court Theater, two almost identical buildings had to be built in 1840 in Gotha and Coburg and thereafter maintained at the same time. In 1893, the duke died childless, whereupon the throne would have devolved, by male primogeniture. However, as heirs to the British throne, Alberts descendants consented, therefore, the German duchy became a secundogeniture, hereditary among the younger princes of the British royal family who belonged to the House of Wettin, and their male-line descendants. Instead of the future Edward VII of the United Kingdom inheriting the duchy, it was diverted to his brother, Prince Alfred. Upon the latters death without surviving sons, it went to the youngest grandson of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, Prince Charles Edward, Charles Edwards uncle Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and his male line had renounced their claim. Although senior by birth, they were not acceptable to the German Emperor as a member of the British military or unwilling to move to Germany. The current head of the branch is Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg. The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry is the Catholic cadet branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and it was founded with the marriage of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, with Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág. In Portugal, the royal house is usually not distinguished from the House of Braganza
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Belgian Federal Parliament
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The Belgian Federal Parliament is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate and it sits in the Palace of the Nation. The Chamber of Representatives is the legislative body, the Senate functions only as a meeting place of the federal communities. The Chamber of Representatives holds its meetings in the Palace of the Nation. Eligibility requirements for the Chamber are a minimum age of 21, citizenship, the number of seats in the Chamber is constitutionally set at 150 elected from 11 electoral districts. The districts are divided along lines,5 Flemish,5 Walloon. The districts are the provinces, except for the districts of Leuven, each district is given a number of seats proportional to its population ranging from 4 for Luxembourg to 24 for Antwerp. 7 with language facilities for French-speakers, the current composition was elected at the federal elections of 2014. Since 2014, the Senate consists of 60 members, there are two categories of senators, co-opted senators and senators of community and regional parliaments. The 10 other senators are co-opted, elected by the 50 other senators, eligibility requirements for the Senate are identical to those for the Chamber. Before 2014, the Senate consisted of 71 senators, only 21 of which were elected by the community parliaments,25 were directly elected by the Flemish constituency and 15 by the French-speaking constituency. The last direct election of these 40 members occurred in the 2010 federal elections, the 2014 elections are the first one with the reformed Senate. The President of the Senate is Christine Defraigne as of 2014, the Senate holds its plenary meetings in the Palace of the Nation, Brussels. In certain matters both Chambers have equal power, in this case, the mandatory bicameral procedure applies, which means that both Chambers must pass exactly the same version of the bill. For most other legislation, the Chamber of Representatives takes precedence over the Senate and this means that the Senate may still intervene as a chamber of consideration and reflection. It has the opportunity to, within specific time limits, examine the bills adopted by the Chamber of Representatives and, if there is a reason to do so, the Chamber may subsequently adopt or reject the amendments proposed by the Senate or make new proposals. The Senate can also submit a bill it has adopted to the Chamber, whatever the case, the Chamber has the final word. The one-chamber procedure applies in cases where the Chamber of Representatives has the power to legislate
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Senate (Belgium)
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The Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. The 2014 elections were the first ones without an election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is completely composed of members of community and regional parliaments and it is a chamber of the communities and regions and serves as a platform for discussion and reflection about matters between the different language communities. The Senate now only plays a minor role in the federal legislative process. Since the reform, it holds about ten plenary sessions a year. After the Belgian Revolution, the National Congress decided about the Belgian Constitution, a bicameral Parliament was chosen over a unicameral one, due to fears of more democratic and progressive decisions in the Chamber of Representatives, as was seen in France. Thus the Senate served as a conservative and elite body. To be eligible, one had to pay 1000 francs, which meant that at that time, the Flemish nationalist party New Flemish Alliance, among other Flemish parties, said in 2010 that they want to abolish the Senate. The French-speaking parties, however, want to keep the Senate, since the sixth state reform, the Senate consists of 60 members. 50 are elected by the community and regional parliaments, and 10 are co-opted members, prior to the Belgian federal election of May 21,1995, there were 184 elected senators. The change took effect following the May 21,1995 federal election, of the total of 71 elected senators,40 were elected directly,21 appointed by the community parliaments and 10 senators were co-opted. The overall distribution of seats between parties was determined by the results of the direct election. The sixth state reform, taking effect on the May 25,2014 election, reduced the number of senators from 71 to 60, the German-speaking senator is chosen by plurality, the other Senate seats are distributed based on the results for the Chamber of Representatives election. These Community senators hold a double mandate and they are appointed to the Senate for a term of 4 years, but as the Community parliaments are renewed every 5 years, it is possible that regional elections take place during these 4 years. Ten Senators are co-opted, meaning they are elected by their peers, six by the Dutch-language group and these seats are distributed between parties using the direct election results. In 1893, the members were included in the Constitution as a new category of Senators. Until the elections of 25 May 2014, the Senate contained 40 directly elected members, to elect these members, the electorate was divided into two electoral colleges, a Dutch and a French electoral college
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Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
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The Chamber of Representatives is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. Article 62 of the Belgian Constitution fixes the number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives at 150, there are 11 electoral districts, which correspond with the ten Provinces and the Brussels-Capital Region. The seats are divided among the parties using the DHondt method of proportional representation. There is a threshold of 5%. The Representatives are divided into two so-called language groups, for the representatives from the Brussels region, the language in which they take their oath as a representative determines which language group they belong to. Following the 2007 federal election, the Chamber has a German-speaking member for the first time since 1999, nevertheless, because of the Belgian constitution, both linguistic communities are granted equal powers in the parliament. Although in general bills can be passed without a majority in both groups, bills relating to specific issues can not and need the consent of both language groups. The following table shows the current distribution of seats between the groups and the electoral districts. A representative can only enter into office after having taken the oath of office and he or she can also choose to take the oath in more than one language. The oath of office is as follows, I swear to observe the Constitution, certain offices are incompatible with the office of representative. The same applies the other way around as well, a representative who takes the oath of office in a regional or community parliament automatically ceases to be a representative. A member of the Chamber of Representatives may not also be a member of the Senate at the same time, another important incompatibility is based on the separation of powers. It is also not possible to be a member of the Federal Parliament, the Chamber of Representatives elects a presiding officer, known as the president, at the beginning of each parliamentary term, which starts on the second Tuesday of October each year. The President is customarily a member of one of the forming the government coalition. The first vice-president is usually a member of the language group than that of the President. The current President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives is Siegfried Bracke of the New Flemish Alliance, to this end, he or she is given considerable powers. He or she represents the Chamber at both the national and the international level
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Siegfried Bracke
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Siegfried Bracke is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010, before his political career he had a long career as a journalist, working for the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep. He is a supporter of Orangism, media related to Siegfried Bracke at Wikimedia Commons
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Michel Government
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The Michel Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium formed following the 2014 Belgian government formation and sworn in on 11 October 2014. The administration is a coalition of the New Flemish Alliance, the Christian Democratic and Flemish, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. The prime minister is Charles Michel, the government has an agenda of socio-economic reforms, especially through austerity measures, with its priorities being improving Belgiums economic competitiveness and reducing unemployment. The government was sworn in on 11 October 2014, taking the oath of office before King Filip of Belgium, the four parties had a majority in the Chamber of Representatives with 85 members out of 150. On 16 October 2014, the motion of confidence from the Chamber of Representatives was approved by a vote of 84 in favour,58 against, the governments majority was reduced to 83 when two N-VA members left the party in September 2016. The government consists of a coalition of the New Flemish Alliance, Christian Democratic and Flemish, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. It is nicknamed Swedish coalition inasmuch as the party colours yellow and blue, initially the government was also called a kamikaze coalition, inasmuch as the MR is the only French-speaking party in the coalition. For the first time in 25 years, the French-speaking Socialist Party did not become a part of the federal government, despite three parties having been part of the preceding Di Rupo Government as well, the programme of this coalition differs substantially from the previous one. The emphasis is on socio-economic reforms, especially austerity measures. Important goals for the parties include helping businesses become more competitive, the announced measures were met by protests primarily from the labour unions, which argued that the measures favour employers and disproportionately burden employees and families. Instead, the unions organised several regional and national strikes in November and December 2014, the government presided over the arrest of suspects accused of playing a role in the Paris attacks of November 2015, as well as a terrorist attack in Brussels in March 2016. An often recurring subject is whether or not a capital gains tax should be introduced, the Constitution requires an equal number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers. Since MR is the only French-speaking party, it has more ministers than it would otherwise get with its electoral weight, on May 21,2015 the portfolios Urban Policy and fighting Fiscal Fraud were re-allocated between three N-VA members. Urban Policy moved from Jan Jambon to Elke Sleurs, while Sleurs handed over Fiscal Fraud to Johan Van Overtveldt, on September 21,2015 it was announced that minister of Budget Hervé Jamar would resign to become governor of Liège. He was succeeded by Sophie Wilmès, Michel rejected both resignations and the governments composition remained unchanged. Two days later she was replaced by François Bellot, while Tommelein was replacing Turtelboom, he was himself replaced by Philippe De Backer who gave up his position as Member of the European Parliament. Three days later, the N-VA decided to replace Sleurs with Zuhal Demir, Demir was sworn in by the King on 24 February 2017
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Prime Minister of Belgium
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The Prime Minister of Belgium or the Premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government in the Kingdom of Belgium. The political importance of the King of the Belgians has decreased over time, since the independence of Belgium in 1830, governments have been designated with the name of the minister who formed the government as formateur, but that position did not have a specific status. The title of Prime Minister or Premier was used for the first time in 1918 in official documents, only in 1970 the title was incorporated in the Belgian Constitution with the first state reform. Gradually, the Head of Cabinet replaced the King more often during the first half of the twentieth century, nevertheless, given his newly acquired prominence, as a member of the cabinet the Head of Cabinet continued to lead a ministerial department. Since then, coalition governments have been necessary, which has made the task of forming a government by the appointed formateur more difficult, consequently, the formateur increasingly gained greater respect, and much prestige. Thus the formateur became prominent as a position of leadership, as the ministers of the government now represented various political parties, there was a need for someone to coordinate the proceedings of the various ministers. The Prime Minister was now asserted as the head of government. Besides coordinating government policies, the Prime Minister is responsible for the execution of the coalition agreement. He also presides at meetings of the Council of Ministers and manages conflicts of competencies between the ministers, in addition, the Prime Minister represents the government coalition in public, both at home and abroad. It is the Prime Minister who maintains contact with the King and he can also ask Parliament for a vote of confidence, which can even lead to the governments resignation in the case of a constructive vote of no confidence. Unless the Prime Minister resigns because of a matter, the whole government resigns when he resigns. The Prime Minister also represents Belgium in the various international organisations, the day after the federal elections, the incumbent Prime Minister offers the resignation of his government to the King. The King then asks the government to continue as a caretaker government until a new government is formed. The King then consults a number of prominent politicians in order to ascertain the different possibilities of forming a government and he usually consults the presidents of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, the most important political parties, and other people of political and socio-economic importance. After the consultations, the King appoints an informateur who is in charge of collecting information from the different political parties about their demands for formation of a new government. After these consultations, the reports to the King so that the King can find a suitable formateur. Usually, it is the formateur of the government who then becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister or Premier is appointed by the King, alongside the other ministers, as the head of government, he is the first to be appointed
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Charles Michel
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Charles Yves Jean Ghislaine Michel is a Belgian politician, and is the current Prime Minister of Belgium. He is the son of Louis Michel, also a prominent politician, Charles Michel was the leader of the francophone liberal party Mouvement Réformateur since February 2011 until becoming Prime Minister. Michel is the youngest Belgian Prime Minister since 1845, Michel was born in Namur, Wallonia. Michel started his career aged 16 when he joined the Young Liberals of Jodoigne. In 1994, at the age of 18, Charles Michel was elected councillor in Walloon Brabant. He graduated in law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of Amsterdam in 1998, having studied in Amsterdam, he is fluent in Dutch in addition to his native French. Michel has been elected to the federal Chamber of Representatives since 1999, representing Walloon Brabant, in 2000, he became Minister of Home Affairs in the Walloon Government. Aged 25, he became the youngest minister in Belgiums history, at the local level, he was elected city councillor in Wavre in 2000. In 2006, he became mayor of the city, in December 2007, Michel became the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation in the Verhofstadt III Government and subsequently in the Leterme I, Van Rompuy I and Leterme II governments. In 2009, he declared himself to be shocked by statements of Pope Benedict XVI claiming that condoms promoted AIDS, calling the statements astounding, scandalous, after the June 2009 regional elections, Michel was part of a group demanding the MR leader Didier Reynders to step down. After the party suffered losses in the June 2010 federal elections. Charles Michel then announced his candidacy for leader of MR, in January 2011 he was elected leader of the Mouvement Réformateur, for which he resigned as Minister for Development Cooperation. Charles Michel and Didier Reynders are longtime rivals within their party, after the 2014 federal elections, Michel became co-formateur in the 2014 Belgian government formation. When CD&V chose the position of European Commissioner for Marianne Thyssen over the position of Prime Minister for Kris Peeters, Michel is the youngest Belgian cabinet leader since 1841 and the youngest ever with the title of Prime Minister of Belgium. He is only the second Francophone liberal to become Prime Minister, Michel is the first French-speaking Prime Minister to succeed another French-speaking Prime Minister in almost 50 years, when Pierre Harmel was succeeded by Paul Vanden Boeynants. Belgium, Grand Officer, Order of Leopold Official website
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Court of Cassation (Belgium)
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The Court of Cassation is the main court of last resort in Belgium. It was originally modelled after the French Cour de cassation and its jurisdiction and powers are similar to those of its French counterpart. To maintain readability, Dutch terms will be abbreviated as D, the court comprises three chambers with 16 judges. Each chamber in turn has a Dutch and a French division, each chamber has a chief judge, called the President, and two heads of division, one for each language group. The entire court is headed by a judge called the First President. The parket generaal or parquet général is headed by the Chief Prosecutor, the Prosecutor is a magistrate, but does not actually try cases (his role is to give legal advice to the Court, in a similar manner to the Commissioner of the Government of Council of State. He brings cases to the Court in the name of the law, the Chief Prosecutor is aided by the First Prosecutor and about 12 Prosecutors. The lawyers, while not employees of the Court and not technically part of it, with the exception of a few categories of litigation, it is compulsory to use an advocate when referring matters to the Court of Cassation. Lawyers admitted to pleading before this court are known as advocaat bij het Hof van Cassatie or avocat à la Cour de Cassation. The roles of these specialized lawyers includes advising litigants on whether their pleas are admissible, particularly that cassation cases only review points of law, Appeal to the Court of Cassation is only possible against judgements against which no ordinary appeal is possible anymore. This will happen when all normal appeal procedures have been followed, the Court of Cassation can only confirm these judgements, or annul them. It can not examine the case and make a new judgement, the court can annul the entire judgement, or just part of it. If the court annuls a judgement, the case is remitted to a court at the level as the one which judgement was overturned. The decision of the Court of Cassation is not binding, however, the new court may decide the case as it pleases. The decision of the new court may again be appealed to the Court of Cassation, in some cases, it is unclear whether a case should be heard before administrative courts or judiciary courts. In these conflicts of attribution, the Court of Cassation can be asked to decide who has jurisdiction, the Court of Cassation also acts as venue of appeal for jurisdictional judgements of the Court of Audit of Belgium. If the ruling shows a deficit the officer after a procedure the Court of Audit either exonarates the accounting officer or condemns him to make good that amount or part of it. The ruling can be appealed to the Court of Cassation, Court of cassation Council of State Constitutional Court of Belgium Belgian Court of Cassation
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Council of State (Belgium)
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Council of State, in Belgium, is an organ of the Belgian government, it is the Supreme Administrative Court of Belgium. Its functions include assisting the executive with legal advice and being the court for administrative justice. Its members are high level jurists, the Council is taking residence in the Palace of the Marquess of Assche built by Alphonse Balat. After World War II the need arose for a Supreme Administrative Court and it does not officially belong to the judiciary, rather, it falls under the jurisdiction of the minister of the interior. Since then, the Belgian Constitution has been amended to include the existence of the Council of State. Article 160 of the Belgian Constitution provides that there is, for all of Belgium, one Council of State, the composition, competence and functioning of which are regulated by law. The organisation and functioning of the Council of State are presently provided for by the laws on the Council of State. The Council of State comprises the council, the office, the coordination office, the registry. The Council is further divided into a Legislative section and an Administrative litigation section, the Council has 44 judges, a first President a President 14 Presidents of Chambers 28 Councillors The judges themselves elect their Presidents. The aforementioned judges are appointed for life by the King out of a list containing three names nominated by the Council of State itself, in this case the Council of State drafts a new list. The Council has its seat at the address, Wetenschapsstraat/rue de la Science 33 in Brussels. The Belgian Council of State was modelled after her French namesake with greatly similar powers. The general principles of Law are principles that are not found in any statute, yet derive from the spirit of the body of law, they are discovered by the Council, of course, both parties may supply supplemental information until the case is ready for final judgment. In some cases, it is whether a case should be heard before administrative courts or judiciary courts. In this case, Court of Cassation decides who has jurisdiction, normative texts coming from the executive power must be submitted for advice in draft form whereas for normative texts originating from a member of parliament, the advice is optional. Constitutional Court of Belgium Court of Cassation Raadvst-Consetat. be Official website Raadvst-consetat. be, Article about the workings of the Council of State
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Elections in Belgium
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Elections in Belgium are organised for legislative bodies only, and not for executive functions. Voting is mandatory and all elections use proportional representation which in general requires coalition governments, the method of election, the elected bodies, and the political party system have changed drastically since the founding of Belgium in 1830. At first, there were only municipal, provincial and national elections with few people being able to vote on the national level. Over time, voting rights were extended and eventually made compulsory, in the second half the 20th century, political parties split along linguistic lines and the number of parties increased. Belgium has a multi-party system, with political parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone. Several months before an election, each party forms a list of candidates for each district, parties are allowed to place as many candidates on their ticket as there are seats available. The formation of the list is a process that varies with each party. The place on the list influences the election of a candidate, political campaigns in Belgium are relatively short, lasting only about one month, and there are restrictions on the use of billboards. For all of their activities, campaigns included, the parties have to rely on government subsidies and dues paid by their members. Since no single party holds a majority, after the election the strongest party or party family will usually create a coalition with some of the other parties to form the government. Voting is compulsory in Belgium, more than 90% of the population participates, Belgian voters are given five options when voting. A few weeks before the election, every Belgian older than 18 receives a voting card with the details of where. The voting cards are sent by the administration to all of the municipalitys inhabitants based on the national population register. Voting bureaus are usually in schools, on polling day, always a Sunday, a volunteer at the voting bureau checks the voter in. After taking the electronic identity card and voting card, the volunteer issues a magnetic card to operate the voting machine. After the voter has finished, the volunteer verifies that the card was used to cast a valid vote, then returns the voters ID and voting card. Belgian voters elect 21 members to the European Parliament and this number gradually decreased following the accession of new member states to the European Union, the latest being Croatia in 2013. Direct elections take place since 1979, there are three constituencies, organised by linguistic community, Belgium elects its bicameral federal legislature, the Federal Parliament
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European Parliament election, 2004 (Belgium)
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Elections to the European Parliament were held in Belgium on June 13,2004. The elections produced little change in the distribution of seats in the European Parliament among Belgiums many political parties. The two socialist parties improved their vote, while the Green parties lost ground, the Flemish nationalist party the Flemish Bloc registered the largest gains. European Parliament Elections 2004 in Belgium European Elections results shown on Belgian cartogram
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European Parliament election, 2009 (Belgium)
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The European Parliament election of 2009 in Belgium was on Sunday 7 June 2009 and was the election of the delegation from Belgium to the European Parliament. The elections were on the day as regional elections to the Flemish Parliament, Walloon Parliament, Brussels Parliament. In practice this means residents will only be able to vote for a party representing the language group of the region. In the capital Brussels, which is bilingual, people can choose either a French- or a Dutch-speaking party list. However, the area surrounding Brussels is part of Dutch-speaking Flanders, but is joined with the Brussels constituency in elections for the European Parliament and this bilingual constituency, Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, has been declared unconstitional and has been a source of controversy for years. Some Dutch-speaking municipalities decided to boycott the EU Parliament election for reason of the unconstitutionality, as in previous elections, Francophone parties campaigned outside of the Francophone area, leading to measures from Flemish authorities. Affligem and Halle are located in Dutch-speaking Flanders but belong to the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency, politicians in Affligem and Halle have objected to French-speaking campaigners in Flanders, and billboard space has been denied by the municipal authorities. In Affligem, French-language posters that had already put up were covered with white paper. The Francophone party Humanist Democratic Centre has condemned it as an attack on the rights of French speakers on the periphery. In Steenokkerzeel, Ternat, and Grimbergen stickers were distributed, to be placed on mailboxes, European Parliament Elections 2009 in Belgium European Elections results shown on Belgian cartogram European Election Results 2009
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Belgian federal election, 2007
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The 2007 Belgian federal election took place on Sunday 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to new members for the Chamber of Representatives. Eligible voters were Belgian citizens 18 years and older, the 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from 11 electoral districts. The 40 Senate members were elected from the Dutch and Francophone electoral colleges, of the Flemish parties, the alliance of Christian Democratic and Flemish party and the New-Flemish Alliance received an increased share of the vote from the previous election, held in 2003. The CD&V/N-VA list was headed by Yves Leterme, and became the largest political formation in Belgium, Flemish Interest received more votes than in the previous election, but lost one seat. Was able to return to parliament and newcomers List Dedecker surprised most by immediately grabbing six seats, the day after the election, Verhofstadt handed in the resignation of his government to King Albert II. SP. A leader Johan Vande Lanotte resigned from his position as well that day. The Francophone situation did not mirror its Flemish counterpart, while Verhofstadts Open VLD struggled, its Francophone sister party Mouvement Réformateur managed to defeat the long-dominant Parti Socialiste, although the PS remained strong in Hainaut and Liège. The Humanist Democratic Centre brought in a result as well. The overall outcome of the elections was that the liberal fraction became the largest group in parliament with, followed by the Christian Democrats, the electoral alliance between the Flemish CD&V and N-VA parties became the biggest single parliamentary grouping. Only parties who fielded candidates for the Belgian Senate are listed and these Flemish parties field candidates in the regions of Flanders and the partially bilingual electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. The Christian Democratic and Flemish party is a Christian Democratic party that has formed an alliance with the Flemish nationalist party New-Flemish Alliance, most polls in the run-up to the election suggested that the alliance would win the election and become the largest political force in Flanders. It is led by Yves Leterme, current prime minister of the Flemish Region, having become the largest political party in the Belgian Chamber after the 2007 election, the alliance will become the fulcrum of the coalition talks for a new government. Commentators suggest that coalition talks will be difficult, as most Francophone parties see the alliance as being overly Flemish-dominated and it was the first time that the Flemish Interest had taken part in federal elections under its new name. Ostracized by all political parties because of its views on foreigners and immigration. The VBs lists also included members of the right-liberal Flemish Liberal Independent Tolerant and Transparent party of Hugo Coveliers, the Socialistische Partij Anders is a social-democratic party and has formed a cartel list with the Flemish regionalist and left liberal party Spirit. Like their coalition partner VLD, they lost heavily in the election, Vande Lanotte made it also clear that the alliance will not take part in a federal government whose sole concern is state reform. Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats is the alliance list of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats of prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, the VLD has seen some infighting in the last years, resulting in two prominent members leaving the party, Hugo Coveliers and Jean-Marie Dedecker
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Belgian federal election, 2010
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Elections for the Federal Parliament were held in Belgium on 13 June 2010. After the fall of the previous Leterme II Government over the withdrawal of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats from the government the King dissolved the legislature, prime Minister Yves Leterme immediately offered his resignation to King Albert II, who accepted it on 26 April 2010. In contrast, Ghislain Londers, the president of the Court of Cassation declared that all judges are obliged to cooperate with the electoral process. Before the judges letters, former president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Herman De Croo stated that no court could prevent the elections taking place. The international media saw the election as crucial to determine the future of the country and these Flemish parties field candidates in the regions of Flanders and the partially bilingual electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. New Flemish Alliance – centre-right political party, seeking secession of Flanders, Christian Democratic and Flemish – Christian democratic party with historic ties to both trade unionism and corporative organizations. Socialist Party – Differently – social-democratic party, Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats – liberal party. Flemish Interest – seeking the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration and these Francophone parties fielded candidates in the region of Wallonia and in the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. Humanist Democratic Centre – Christian democratic party, Leterme stepped aside on 28 April 2010 and was replaced as leader of CD&V by Marianne Thyssen. Eva Brems, human rights professor at Ghent University and former president of the Flemish division of Amnesty International and she was head of the Chamber list in Flemish Brabant for Groen. As of May 26, it appeared that the development in the election was the surge in popularity of the N-VA in Flanders. Led by Bart De Wever, it supports eventual independence for Flanders, the N-VA replaces the CD&V of outgoing PM Yves Leterme as the most popular party in Flanders. It appeared that the N-VA had attracted some popularity from the ethnic nationalist party, after polls showed the N-VA receiving 29% of votes in their region, media interpreted the election as a victory for Flemish independence. The following tables contain percentages on the national level and these maps depict the largest party in each constituency. Legend, N-VA CD&V sp. a Open VLD MR Legend, on possible coalitions, election winner Bart De Wever announced he would seek negotiations with the Francophone Socialist Party. Coalition formation continued for a record breaking 541 days, with a government under Elio De Rupo eventually being formed on 6 December 2011 after agreement was reached on the 2012 budget. The Di Rupo I Government includes the Liberal, Socialist and Christian Democratic parties from both Flanders and Wallonia, the government excludes the New Flemish Alliance, the Greens of Groen and Ecolo, the right of Vlaams Belang, the Lijst Dedecker and the Peoples Party. Elio Di Rupo is the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979, tractothèque - Electoral posters and leaflets NSD, European Election Database - Belgium publishes regional level election data, allows for comparisons of election results, 1991–2010
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Belgian federal election, 2014
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Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippes reign, as part of the state reform adopted 19 December 2013, the date of election will from now on coincide with the European elections, which the Council of the EU has scheduled for 22–25 May 2014. The regional elections in Belgium already legally coincide with the European elections, on 25 April 2014, a declaration to amend the Constitution was adopted, formally dissolving parliament and triggering new elections within 40 days. The previous 2010 election resulted in a victory for Flemish nationalist N-VA, the coalition formation stalemate went on for a record-breaking 541 days. Eventually, the parties agreed upon a sixth Belgian state reform. The Senate will no longer be directly elected, the term length will be increased from 4 years to 5 years, and the election will always coincide with the European Parliament election. The campaign topics largely focused on reforms, job creation and unemployment, tax reform. This campaign also featured a level of quantified programmes by political parties. For example, the N-VA released its V plan and CD&V its 3D plan, one week before the election day, former CD&V Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene suddenly died while in France. Several debates were cancelled, and CD&V as well as all other Flemish parties suspended their campaign for a few days, on 24 May, the day before the elections, a shooting occurred at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels, with three people reported dead. Self-described anti-Zionist MP Laurent Louis suggested that the attack could be a false flag operation seeking to discredit him, in the Chamber of Representatives, the Peoples Party and Libertarian, Direct, Democratic each also won one seat. During the legislation, the Francophone Democratic Federalists separated from the MR party and are now represented in the Chamber with 3 representatives, the PP Member of Parliament left the party and became an independent. One Vlaams Belang member of the Chamber and one Vlaams Belang member of the Senate left their party, thus, currently the ten major parties are represented in both the Chamber and the Senate, in addition, LDD and FDF are represented in the Chamber of Representatives. However, most of the parties only operate in the Dutch-speaking or in the French-speaking constituencies. Voters who live in the provinces of Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg or West Flanders can only vote for CD&V, Groen, N-VA, Open VLD, sp. Therefore, the CSP politicians are on the cdH list, the Ecolo ones on the Ecolo list, PFF on the MR list, the other German-speaking parties do not present a list due to their marginal chance of getting a seat in Parliament. In the constituency of Brussels-Capital, Ecolo and Groen formed one list under the name Ecolo, CD&V, N-VA, Open Vld, sp. a and Vlaams Belang will each present a single list
