Parti Socialiste (Belgium)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic French-speaking political party in Belgium. As of the 2014 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party; the party is led by Elio Di Rupo, Prime Minister of Belgium from 6 December 2011 until 11 October 2014. The party supplies the Minister-president of the French Community, the Brussels-Capital Region. In the German-speaking community, the party is known as the Sozialistische Partei; the PS is commonly part of governing coalitions, dominates most local authorities because of the fragmented nature of Belgian political institutions in Francophone areas. In the years since 1999, the PS has controlled five regional executive bodies: the Government of the French Community, the Walloon Government, the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the COCOF, a local subsidiary in Brussels of the French Community Government, the Government of the German-speaking Community; the party, or its members, have from time to time been brought into connection with criminal activities and political scandals concerning bribery and financial fraud.
The Carolorégienne affair caused Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down as Minister-President of the Walloon region. The PS performed well in the 2003 general election, but were overtaken as the largest Francophone party by the Reformist Movement in the 2007 general election In the 10 June 2007 general elections, the party won 20 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in the Senate; the PS was a member of the Leterme I Government, Van Rompuy I Government, Leterme II Government and the Di Rupo I Government of 6 December 2011, with former PS leader Elio Di Rupo serving as Prime Minister of Belgium. Results for the Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium; the ideology and image of the PS is a mix of social-democracy, combined with a modern electoral marketing. André Cools, 1978-1981 Guy Spitaels, 1981–1992 Philippe Busquin, 1992–1999 Elio Di Rupo, 1999–2011 Thierry Giet, 2011-2013 Paul Magnette, 2013–2014 Elio Di Rupo, 2014– Rudy Demotte André Flahaut Jean-Claude Marcourt Philippe Moureaux Laurette Onkelinx Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe Chamber of Representatives Senate French-speaking electoral college German-speaking electoral college Charter of Quaregnon Official website Official website of German-speaking section
Namur
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, Walloon Government and administration. Namur stands at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse rivers and straddles three different regions – Hesbaye to the north, Condroz to the south-east, Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse to the south-west; the city of Charleroi is located to the west. The language spoken is French; the City of Namur includes the old communes of Beez, Saint-Servais, Saint-Marc, Champion, Flawinne, Suarlée, Vedrin, Cognelée, Gelbressée, Marche-les-Dames, Jambes, Naninne, Wépion, Erpent, Lives-sur-Meuse, Loyers. The town began as an important trading settlement in Celtic times, straddling east-west and north-south trade routes across the Ardennes; the Romans established a presence. Namur came to prominence during the early Middle Ages when the Merovingians built a castle or citadel on the rocky spur overlooking the town at the confluence of the two rivers.
In the 10th century, it became a county in its own right. The town developed somewhat unevenly, as the counts of Namur could only build on the north bank of the Meuse - the south bank was owned by the bishops of Liège and developed more into the town of Jambes. In 1262, Namur fell into the hands of the Count of Flanders, was purchased by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421. After Namur became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s, its citadel was strengthened. Louis XIV of France invaded in 1692, annexing it to France, his renowned military engineer Vauban rebuilt the citadel. French control was short-lived, as William III of Orange-Nassau captured Namur only three years in 1695 during the War of the Grand Alliance. Under the Barrier Treaty of 1709, the Dutch gained the right to garrison Namur, although the subsequent Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 gave control of the Spanish Netherlands to the Austrian House of Habsburg. Thus, although the Austrians ruled the town, the citadel was controlled by the Dutch.
It was rebuilt again under their tenure. General Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Valence's column laid siege to the city on 19 November 1792 during the War of the First Coalition and, after 12 days, the city surrendered on 1 December and its whole garrison of 3,000 men was taken prisoner. France invaded the region again in 1794, imposing a repressive regime. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna incorporated what is now Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution, Namur continued to be a major garrison town under the new government; the citadel was rebuilt yet again in 1887. Namur was a major target of the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, which sought to use the Meuse valley as a route into France. On August 21, 1914, the Germans bombarded the town of Namur without warning. Several people were killed. Despite being billed as impregnable, the citadel fell after only three days' fighting and the town was occupied by the Germans for the rest of the war.
Namur fared little better in World War II. The town suffered heavy damage in both wars. Namur continued to host the Belgian Army's paratroopers until their departure in 1977. After the creation of the Walloon Region, Namur was chosen as the seat of its executive and parliament. In 1986, Namur was declared capital of Wallonia, its position as regional capital was confirmed by the Parliament of Wallonia in 2010. Namur is an important commercial and industrial centre, located on the Walloon industrial backbone, the Sambre and Meuse valley, it produces machinery, leather goods and porcelain. Its railway station is an important junction situated on the north-south line between Brussels and Luxembourg City, the east-west line between Lille and Liège. River barge traffic passes through the middle of the city along the Meuse. Namur has taken on a new role as the capital of the federal region of Wallonia, its location at the head of the Ardennes has made it a popular tourist centre, with a casino located in its southern district on the left bank of the Meuse.
The town's most prominent sight is the citadel, open to the public. Namur has a distinctive 18th-century cathedral dedicated to Saint Aubain and a belfry classified by UNESCO as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France which are listed as a World Heritage Site; the Couvent des Soeurs de Notre-Dame used to contain masterpieces of Mosan art by Hugo d'Oignies presented in the Musée des Arts Anciens. Elsewhere there is a museum dedicated to Félicien Rops. An odd Namurois custom is the annual Combat de l'Échasse d'Or, held on the third Sunday in September. Two teams, the Mélans and the Avresses, dress in medieval clothes while standing on stilts and do battle in one of the town's principal squares. Namur possesses a distinguished university, the University of Namur, founded in 1831; the University of Louvain has several facilities in the city through its UCLouvain Namur University Hospital. Since 1986 Namur has been home to the Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film. A jazz and a rock festival both take place in Namur annually.
The local football team is
Rudy Demotte
Rudy W. G. Demotte is a Belgian socialist politician and present Minister-President of the French Community He was also Minister-President of Wallonia, replacing Elio Di Rupo, one month after a historical defeat of the socialists in the federal election. Of mixed Flemish and Walloon descent, Demotte is one of the few Walloon politicians to be bilingual in French and Dutch. From 1988-90 he served on the cabinet of the Minister of Social Affairs, he was first elected to the Belgian House of Representatives in 1995 and was reflected in 1999 and 2003. In 1999, he became the federal Minister for Scientific Research. In 2002, he became the Minister for Budget and Sport of the French Community of Belgium. From July 2003 to 2007, he became Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health in the federal government. Having served as a council member from 1994 on, he was mayor of Flobecq. Having moved, since 2013 Demotte is mayor of Tournai. Belgium Grand officier Order of Leopold Japan Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class.
Socialist Party Media related to Rudy Demotte at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Willy Borsus
Willy Borsus is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the Reformist Movement. He's the current Minister-President of Wallonia. Political mandates or held 1988–present: Municipal Councillor of Somme-Leuze 1995–present: Mayor of Somme-Leuze 1994-2004: Provincial Councillor of Namur 1995-2000: President of the Provincial Council of Namur 2000-2004: group leader the Provincial Council of Namur 2004-2014: Walloon and French Community MP 2008-2009: First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of the French Community 2009-2014: Group Leader in the Walloon Parliament 2014–2017: Federal Minister for the Middle Classes, Independents and Medium Enterprises and Social Integration in the Michel Government 2017-present: Minister-President of Wallonia
Senate (Belgium)
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 "upper house" of the Federal Parliament. Created in 1831 as a chamber equal to the Chamber of Representatives, it has undergone several reforms in the past, most notably in 1993 and the reform of 2014 following the sixth Belgian state reform; the 2014 elections were the first ones without a direct election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is composed of members of community and regional parliaments and co-opted members, 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 only holds about ten plenary sessions a year. After the Belgian Revolution, the National Congress decided about the Belgian Constitution and the state structure. 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 more elite body. To be eligible, one had to pay 1000 francs, which meant that at that time, only about 4000 persons could be elected. In the past, French was the sole language of government in Belgium, it was not until 1913 that Dutch was used in Parliament, by the liberal senator Emmanuel De Cloedt, which the French-speaking pro-Catholic newspaper La Libre Belgique described as séparatisme parlementaire; 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, want to keep the Senate. During the 2010–2011 Belgian government formation, it has been decided that the Senate would no longer be directly elected and instead become a meeting place for members of the various regional parliaments. Since the sixth state reform, the Senate consists of 60 members. 50 are elected by the community and regional parliaments, 10 are co-opted members. Prior to the Belgian federal election of May 21, 1995, there were 184 elected senators.
The fourth state reform, which took place in 1993, revised the Belgian Constitution, reduced the number of senators to 71 and replaced the provincial senators, who were appointed by the Provincial Councils, with Community senators. The change took effect following the May 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 however 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 and abolished the direct election. Starting with the elections of 25 May 2014, 50 senators are appointed by and from the community and regional parliaments: 29 senators appointed by the Flemish Parliament from the Flemish Parliament or from the Dutch language group of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region 10 senators appointed by and from the Parliament of the French Community 8 senators appointed by and from the Parliament of Wallonia 2 senators appointed by and from the French-language group of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region 1 senator appointed by and from the Parliament of the German-speaking CommunityPreviously, a total of 21 were appointed by and from the Community parliaments: 10 by the Flemish Parliament, 10 by the Parliament of the French Community and one by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.
The German-speaking senator is chosen by plurality. They were distributed using the results of the direct election between the parties that have at least one directly elected senator, insofar as they had enough seats in the Flemish Parliament or the Parliament of the French Community; these Community senators hold a double mandate. 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. In this event, the Community senators who are not re-elected to their Community parliament are replaced by a member belonging to the same fraction, insofar as that fraction has enough seats left in the Flemish Parliament or the Parliament of the French Community, as the case may be, following the regional elections to replace those Community senators. In order to ensure that the Senate can continue to exercise its functions when the Community parliaments are dissolved, the Community senators remain in office until the parliament of their Community either confirms their mandate or appoints new Community senators.
Ten senators are co-opted, meaning they are elected by their peers: six by the Dutch-language group and four by the French-language group. These seats are distributed proportionally between parties based on the results of the direct election of the Chamber of Representatives. In 1893, the co-opted members were included in the Constitution as a new category of senators, it was intended to allow the senators to elect a number of experts or members of representative organisations to join them to enhance the quality of debate and legislation.
.svg)
.jpg)
