1.
Official residence
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An official residence is the residence at which a nations head of state, head of government, governor or other senior figure officially resides. It may or may not be the location where the individual conducts work-related functions or lives. This has occurred in the 21st century in Detroit and New York City, in the case of Denver, no mayor has ever lived in the official residence, the city instead makes it available to certain non-profit groups for special functions. The President uses own private residence, - Its address is 1 Cheongwadae-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located next to Gyeongbokgung, the palace during the Joseon Dynasty. Cheong Nam Dae - Cheong Nam Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. It was returned to public in 2003, - It is located in Cheongwon-gun, North Chungcheong Province. Cheong Hae Dae - Cheong Hae Dae used to be one of the two residences for the President of Republic of Korea. Although the president no longer uses this facility this compound is still under the administration of the Republic of Korea Navy, - It is located on one of the islands of Geoje-shi, South Gyeongsang Province. Chongri Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Prime Minister of Republic of Korea. The Prime Minister, however, does not work here, - Its address is 111-2 Samcheongdong-gil, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is located close to Cheong Wa Dae, gukhoeuijang Gonggwan - This is the official residence for the Speaker of the National Assembly of Republic of Korea. The Speaker, also, does not work here, - It is located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where many foreign missions to Korea are located. Daebeobwonjang Gonggwan - This is the residence for the Chief Justice of Republic of Korea. The Chief Justice, also, does not work here, - It is also located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Most ministers of state and heads of administrative regions also have official residences, although they are not listed here. S
2.
Namur
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Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Walloon Parliament, 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, and Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse to the south-west. The city of Charleroi is located to the west, 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 after Julius Caesar defeated the local Aduatuci tribe, 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, in 1262, Namur fell into the hands of the Count of Flanders, and was purchased by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421. After Namur became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s, louis XIV of France invaded in 1692, capturing the town and 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 later in 1695 during the War of the Grand Alliance. Thus, although the Austrians ruled the town, the citadel was controlled by the Dutch and it was rebuilt again under their tenure. France invaded the region again in 1794, annexing Namur and 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, the citadel was rebuilt yet again in 1887. Namur was a target of the German invasion of Belgium in 1914. On August 21,1914, the Germans bombarded the town of Namur without warning, despite being billed as virtually 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, it was in the front lines of both the Battle of the Ardennes in 1940 and the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, the town suffered heavy damage in both wars. Namur continued to host the Belgian Armys 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 officially declared capital of Wallonia and 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 and it produces machinery, leather goods, metals and porcelain. Its railway station is also an important junction situated on the line between Brussels and Luxembourg City, and 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
3.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
4.
Walloon Government
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The Walloon Government is the executive branch of Wallonia, and it is part of one of the six main governments of Belgium. It sits in Namur, where the Walloon Parliament is seated as well, following the 25 May 2014 election, PS and CDH parties formed a coalition. Following the 7 June 2009 election, PS, Ecolo and CDH parties formed a coalition, after the elections of 13 June 2004, the PS en CDH formed a coalition
5.
Wallonia
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Wallonia is a region of Belgium. Wallonia is primarily French-speaking, and accounts for 55% of the territory of Belgium, unlike Flanders, the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium which is the political entity that is responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education. The German-speaking minority in the east forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, during the industrial revolution, Wallonia was second only to the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the wealth, and, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Since World War II the importance of industry has greatly diminished. Wallonia now suffers high unemployment and has a significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of conflict in Belgium and is a major factor in Flemish separatism. The capital of Wallonia is Namur but the city with the greatest population is Charleroi, most of Wallonias major cities and two-thirds of its population lie along the Sambre and Meuse valley, the former industrial backbone of Belgium. To the north lies the Central Belgian Plateau, which, like Flanders, is relatively flat, in the south-east lie the Ardennes, hilly and sparsely populated. Wallonia borders Flanders and the Netherlands in the north, France to the south and west, Wallonia has been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1980. The term Wallonia can mean different things in different contexts. One of the three regions of Belgium is still constitutionally defined as the Walloon Region, but the regions government has renamed it Wallonia. In practice, the difference between the two terms is small and what is meant is usually clear, based on context, the root of the word Wallonia, like the words Wales, Cornwall and Wallachia, is the Germanic word Walha, meaning the strangers. Wallonia is named after the Walloons, the population of the Burgundian Netherlands speaking Romance languages, in Middle Dutch, the term Walloons also included the French-speaking population of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège or the whole population of the Romanic sprachraum within the medieval Low Countries. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 57 BC, the Low Countries became part of the larger Gallia Belgica province which originally stretched from southwestern Germany to Normandy and the southern part of the Netherlands. The population of territory was Celtic with a Germanic influence which was stronger in the north than in the south of the province. The ancestors of the Walloons became Gallo-Romans and were called the Walha by their Germanic neighbours, the Walha abandoned their Celtic dialects and started to speak Vulgar Latin. The Merovingian Franks gradually gained control of the region during the 5th century, the language border began to crystallize between 700 under the reign of the Merovingians and Carolingians and around 1000 after the Ottonian Renaissance
6.
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
7.
Parti Socialiste (Belgium)
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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, the party is led by Elio Di Rupo, who was Prime Minister of Belgium from 6 December 2011 until 11 Oktober 2014. The party supplies the Minister-president of the Walloon Region, the French Community, in the German-speaking community, the party is known as the Sozialistische Partei. The party, or its members, have time to time been brought into connection with criminal activities and political scandals, mostly concerning bribery. The Carolorégienne affair caused Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down as Minister-President of the Walloon region, 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
8.
Elio Di Rupo
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Elio Di Rupo is a Belgian social-democratic politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 6 December 2011 to 11 October 2014, Di Rupo was the first francophone to hold the office since Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1979, as well as the countrys first socialist Prime Minister since Edmond Leburton left office in 1974. He was also Belgiums first Prime Minister of non-Belgian descent as well as the second openly gay head of government in modern times. Di Rupo is the son of two Italian immigrants and his father was born in San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore. Elio, who was born in the town of Morlanwelz, in Wallonia, was the only one of the children to be born in Belgium. When he was one old, his father died in a car crash. Due to the financial state of his family, three of his brothers were raised in a nearby orphanage. When he was 12, he attended boarding school, due to medical issues, Di Rupo had to re-do his first year of high school twice, but eventually excelled in science at the end of his high school years. This led him to pursue a degree in chemistry at the University of Mons, Di Rupo came in contact with the socialist movement for the first time during his studies in Mons, where he first obtained a masters degree and afterwards a PhD in chemistry. He went during the preparation of his doctorate to the University of Leeds and he started his political career as an attaché at the cabinet of Jean-Maurice Dehousse in 1980–81. His first political mandate came in 1982, when he was Councillor of Mons, in 1986, he was mayor of health, urban renewal and social affairs. He is a deputy for the Arrondissement of Mons in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and he once described François Mitterrand as being a character from a novel. In 2000, he became the mayor of Mons, which is the capital of the province of Hainaut, in 1987, he got his national political breakthrough. He was elected as member of the Chamber of Deputies and went two years later for a time to the European Parliament. In 1991, Di Rupo was chosen as a senator, but shortly afterwards, he took in the French-speaking community his first ministerial function in Education, following the elections in 1995, he remained the Vice-Prime Minister of Belgium and was appointed minister of Economics and Telecommunications. In 1995 he signed the merger of the Belgian airline Sabena with Swiss Air that eventually led to the bankruptcy of Sabena with thousands of unemployed employees as result. In 1996, at the time of the Dutroux affair, Olivier Trusgnach and this accusation could have meant the end of his political career. Di Rupo denied the accusations and an investigation showed that he was completely innocent
9.
Rudy Demotte
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Of mixed Flemish and Walloon descent, Demotte is one of the few Walloon politicians to be perfectly bilingual in French and Dutch. From 1988-90 he served on the cabinet of the Minister of Social Affairs and 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 Economic Affairs, in 2002, he became the Minister for Budget, Culture and Sport of the French Community of Belgium. From July 2003 to 2007, he became Minister for Social Affairs, having served as a council member from 1994 on, he was mayor of Flobecq. Having moved, since 2013 Demotte is mayor of Tournai, Belgium,2014, Grand officier Order of Leopold Japan,2016, Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class. Socialist Party Media related to Rudy Demotte at Wikimedia Commons Official website
10.
Paul Magnette
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Paul Magnette is a Belgian politician for the PS and former political science professor at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. He is the current Minister-President of the French-speaking region of Wallonia and he studied political sciences at the ULB, and obtained a PhD in 1999 with a dissertation Citoyenneté et construction européenne. His research interest is on policies, the European Union. In 2000, together with Eric Remacle, he was awarded the Exceptional Francqui Prize for European Research, on 20 July 2007, Magnette became minister for Health, Social Action and Equal Opportunity of the Walloon government. On 21 December 2007 Magnette became minister for Climate and Energy in the Verhofstadt III federal government, belgium, Commandor of the Order of Leopold, Royal decree of 2010. Denmark, Knight Grand cross in the Order of the Dannebrog, japan, Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class. List of foreign ministers in 2017 List of current foreign ministers Media related to Paul Magnette at Wikimedia Commons Paul Magnette Spiegel. de
11.
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
12.
Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region
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The Minister-President of the Brussels Capital-Region is the person leading the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region. The post is appointed for 5 years along with 4 ministers and 3 state secretaries, while being the leader of the Government, the Minister-President also is the president of the College of the Common Community Commission of Brussels. The Minister-President is not counted in the ratio of French-speaking to Dutch-speaking ministers, in practice every Minister-President has been a francophone, though bilingual
13.
Minister-President of Flanders
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The Minister-President of Flanders is the head of the Flemish Government, which is the executive branch of the Flemish Region and Flemish Community. Usually the leader of the largest party of the Flemish Parliament becomes the minister-president, regional elections are held every 5 years. The Flemish Parliament was elected directly for the first time in 1995, prior to 1995, the members of the Flemish Parliament were the members of the Dutch language group of the Federal Parliament of Belgium. The incumbent Minister-President is Geert Bourgeois, head of the Bourgeois Government since July 2014
14.
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
15.
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
16.
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
17.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
18.
Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
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The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region, is the governing body of the Brussels-Capital Region, one of the three regions of Belgium. It is also known as the Brussels Regional Parliament, elections of 75 Brussels regional deputies,89 since 2004, take place every five years. May 25,2014 coincided with the European Parliament elections, the composition of the Brussels Parliament is as follows, A dot means, participating in the Brussels government. One of its first tasks after the Parliament is renewed is appointing five ministers, the Brussels Parliament can also force the cabinet as a whole or one or more of its members to resign by passing a motion of no confidence. The 89 members of the Brussels Parliament are divided into two groups,72 belong to the French-speaking group and 17 members belong to the Dutch-speaking group. The Parlement francophone bruxellois and the Council of the Flemish Community Commission together form the United Assembly of the Common Community Commission, the Community Commissions are to a certain extent responsible for Community competencies within the Brussels-Capital Region. Nowadays, people voting for a Flemish party have to vote separately for 6 directly-elected members of the Flemish Parliament, at the moment, this is the case for François Roelants du Vivier, Amina Derbaki Sbaï and Sfia Bouarfa. However, there are restrictions in place in order to prevent one person from combining too many mandates. For instance, it is not possible to be a member of the Chamber of Representatives, centre dInformatique pour la Région Bruxelloise
19.
Flanders
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Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
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Flemish Region
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The Flemish Region is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is simply referred to as Flanders. It occupies the part of Belgium and covers an area of 13,522 km2. It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 470 inhabitants per square kilometer, immediately after its establishment in 1980, the region transferred all its constitutional competencies to the Flemish Community. Thus, the current Flemish authorities represent all the Flemish people, hence, the Flemish Region is governed by the Flemish Community institutions. However, members of the Flemish Community parliament elected in the Brussels-Capital Region have no right to vote on Flemish regional affairs, the Flemish Region comprises five provinces, each consisting of administrative arrondissements that, in turn, contain municipalities. Brussels city, the seat of the Flemish parliament, is located within the Brussels-Capital Region, Brussels contains both the Flemish Community and the French Community, both having their institutions in Brussels. Flanders is home to a modern economy, with emphasis put on research. Many enterprises work closely with local knowledge and research centres to develop new products, De Lijn serves as the main public transport company, run by the Flemish government. It consists of buses and trams, TEC is the equivalent company in Wallonia, and MIVB-STIB in Brussels. The railway network run by the NMBS, however, is a federal responsibility, the Flemish government is also responsible for about 500 kilometers of regional roads and about 900 kilometers of highways in the territory of the Flemish Region. Other types of roads are roads and municipal roads. Approximately 5,500,000 people live in the area, the official language is Dutch, sometimes colloquially referred to as Flemish. The main dialect groups include West Flemish, East Flemish, Brabantian, French may be used for certain administrative purposes in a limited number of the so-called municipalities with language facilities around the Brussels-Capital Region and on the border with Wallonia. Rim municipalities are Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel, Brussels was originally a Dutch-speaking city, but it was frenchified in the 19th and 20th century and is now largely French-speaking. A few municipalities in the Flemish agglomeration of Brussels are now also frenchified, municipalities with language facilities on the border with Wallonia are Bever, Herstappe, Mesen, Ronse, Spiere-Helkijn, Voeren. Communities and regions of Belgium Provinces of regions in Belgium De Vlaamse Leeuw Count of Flanders Flanders Flemish Flemish authorities, toerisme Vlaanderen French Flanders Frans-Vlaanderen The Flemish region reaches 6 million inhabitants
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Flemish Community
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The term community should then not be capitalized. State reforms in Belgium turned the country from a state into a federal one. Cultural communities were the first type of decentralisation in 1970, forming the Dutch, French, later on, in 1980, these became responsible for more cultural matters and were renamed to simply Community, the Dutch Community also being renamed to the Flemish Community. In the same state reform of 1980, the Flemish and Walloon Region were set up, in Flanders it was decided that the institutions of the Flemish Community would take up the tasks of the Flemish Region, so there is only one Flemish Parliament and one Flemish Government. Legally speaking, in the region of Brussel-Capital, the Flemish Community is responsible not for people but for Flemish institutions such as schools, theatres, libraries. The reason is no distinct sub-national status exists in Belgium. Yet, individuals living in Brussels can opt by their own choice for certain policies of the Flemish Community, Dutch is the official language of the Flemish Community. Minorities speak French, Yiddish, Turkish, Arabic, Berber, Italian, Spanish, English, though most of these groups are recent immigrants, since the Middle Ages, Jews have formed the oldest minority to retain its own identity. Compared with most areas in the Netherlands, the dialects of Flemish people still tend to be strong. In Dutch, these are often called tussentaal or, rather derogatorily, more recently, a number of local initiatives have been set up to save the traditional dialects and their diversity. In Brussels, the dialect is heavily influenced by French. Nowadays, most Flemings in Brussels do not speak the local dialect and this is due in part to the relatively large numbers of young Flemings coming to Brussels, after a long period of many more others moving out while French-speakers moved in. In certain municipalities along the border with the Walloon and the Brussels-Capital regions and these cover rights such as to receive official documentation in their own tongue. The community competencies there, are exercised by the two affected institutional communities, the Flemish Community therefore established a local elected council and executive to cater for intermediate-level decision making & public services. The VGC then recognised local, municipal institutions to care of the purely local public service in these community areas. Flanders has a radio and television broadcasting company, the Vlaamse Radio en Televisieomroep or VRT in Dutch. Since 1989, several companies for region-wide radio and television broadcasting have become established. There are also so-called regional broadcast companies of which the range is limited to smaller parts of the Flemish Region
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Flemish Government
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The Flemish Government is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. The Flemish Government cabinet consists of up to a maximum of eleven ministers, at least one minister must come from Brussels. The ministers are drawn from the parties which, in practice. The Government is chaired by the Flemish Minister-President, ministers head executive departments of the government administration. Ministers must defend their policies and performance in person before the Flemish Parliament, the Flemish Government must receive and keep the confidence of the Flemish Parliament. Until 1993 the Flemish Government was called the Flemish Executive, following the 25 May 2014 election, N-VA, CD&V and Open Vld parties formed a coalition. Following the 7 June 2009 election, CD&V, N-VA and SP. A parties formed a coalition, following the 2004 election, CD&V / N-VA, SP. A/ Sociaal-Liberale Partij and Open VLD parties formed a coalition. From 19 July 2004 to 26 June 2007, the Minister-President of Flanders was Yves Leterme, leading a coalition of CD&V-N-VA, VLD-Vivant, and SP. A-Vl. Pro. On June 28, Kris Peeters was sworn in as new minister-president, taking over the responsibilities of Leterme, on 10 October 2007 Fientje Moerman resigned due to the fallout of a hiring scandal, she was replaced as vice-minister-president by Dirk Van Mechelen and as minister by Patricia Ceysens. On 22 September 2008 Geert Bourgeois was forced to resign due to pressure by the SP. A-Vl and his portfolios of Administrative Affairs, Foreign Policy, Media and Tourism were taken over by minister-president Peeters. On December 30,2008 Steven Vanackere resigned to become federal Minister of Civil Service and he was replaced in the Flemish Government by Veerle Heeren. The composition at the end of the legislature, After the regional elections of 1999, a coalition of VLD, SP, Agalev, after the federal elections of June 2003, Patrick Dewael resigned as Minister-President and went to the federal political level. He was succeeded by Bart Somers as Flemish Minister-President until the end of term in 2004, due to changes in political parties, the coalition was different, Volksunie fell apart. Instead, Spirit entered the coalition the SP was renamed to SP. a Agalev was renamed to Groen, after the regional elections of 1995, a coalition of CVP and SP was formed. The Flemish administration denotes the Flemish civil service, with the 2006 reform program Better Administrative Policy, the Flemish civil service is designed to make the Flemish public administration more efficient and transparent. The tasks of the Flemish public administration are now organised in 13 policy areas, each policy area comprises a department and a number of independent government agencies. Only those with their own article are mentioned below, every year, the Minister-President presents the current state of affairs in Flanders and the Governments plans for next year during the September Declaration on the fourth Monday in September
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Flemish Parliament
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The Flemish Parliament constitutes the legislative power in Flanders, for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and a cultural community of Belgium. The Flemish Parliament meets in the Flemish Parliament building in central Brussels, from 1830 until 1970 Belgium was a unitary state with a single government and a bicameral national parliament. The laws issued by Parliament applied to all Belgians, and government ministers exercised their authority across the length and breadth of the country, between 1970 and 2001 the Belgian Parliament approved five successive constitutional reforms. Slowly they changed Belgium from a unitary into a federal state, part of this was to give the communities and later the regions, their own parliaments. On December 7,1971, the Cultural Council for the Dutch-speaking Cultural Community held its first meeting, Flanders decided as early as 1980 to merge the Flemish Community with the Flemish Region. As a result, Flanders now has a parliament and a single government with competence over community as well as over regional matters. This Parliament was called the Vlaamse Raad until it was officially renamed Vlaams Parlement on June 13,1995, over the last thirty years, Flanders has thus developed into a separate state within the federalised Belgium. In English, they are referred to as Members of the Flemish Parliament, like the MSPs in Scotland, the title Flemish Representative is also used in English. Since 1995 members of the Flemish Parliament have been directly elected, currently, many voices in the Flemish Movement would like the Flemish Parliament to acquire certain sovereign powers in addition to those concerning language, culture and education. Furthermore, among the broader Flemish population a consensus has emerged that the Flemish Parliament should also acquire much larger financial and fiscal autonomy, culture, The Flemish parliament is competent for all cultural matters. This includes protection of the heritage, tourism and the media. The public Flemish radio and television broadcasting company is the VRT, public works and transport, includes roads, ports, the regional airports, and urban and regional transport. Agriculture, includes the Agricultural Investment Fund, the education, the development of rural regions, the sale of agricultural and horticultural products. For all areas within its sphere of competence, the Flemish region can conclude treaties with other states. This competence includes development cooperation and foreign trade,118 members are directly elected in the Flemish Region. They have voting rights for both regional and community competencies,6 members are directly elected in the Brussels-Capital Region by those voters who voted for a Dutch-speaking party in the Brussels regional elections. They have no voting rights for the regional competencies, the parties are ordered by size in the respective term. Green coloured parties indicate the government majority, whereas red parties form the opposition, at the beginning of each parliamentary year, on the fourth Monday in September, the Flemish Parliament elects its Speaker
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Parliament of Wallonia
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The Parliament of Wallonia, formerly the Walloon Parliament and previously the Walloon Regional Council, is one of the three self-governing regions of Belgium. On the other side of the Meuse, facing the Parliament, is the Élysette, the parliament exercises several functions, It discusses and passes decrees, and they can take initiatives to draw them up. After this, decrees are sanctioned and promulgated by the Walloon Government, control is exercised via the vote. It ratifies the international treaties linked to its powers and this is the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the 2014 regional election. This is the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the 2009 regional election, the PS, Ecolo and CDH formed together a government. This was the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the 2004 regional election, the PS and CDH formed together a government. This was the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the 1999 regional election, the PS, Ecolo and PRL formed together a government. The Walloon Parliament is the only Belgian parliament which still uses arrondissement-based constituencies, the federal Chamber of Representatives and the Flemish Parliament both merged theirs into larger province-based constituencies
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French Community of Belgium
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In Belgium, the French Community refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. The name French Community refers to Francophone Belgians, and not to French people residing in Belgium, as such, the French Community of Belgium is sometimes rendered in English as the French-speaking Community of Belgium for clarity. The Community has its own parliament, government, and administration and its official flag is identical to the Walloon Flag, which is also the official flag of the Walloons of Wallonia. Wallonia is home to 80% of all Francophone Belgians, with the remaining 20% residing in Brussels, the French Community of Belgium includes 4.5 million people, of whom,3.6 million live in the Walloon Region,900,000 living in the Brussels-Capital Region. French speakers who live in the Flemish Region are not included in the numbers for the French-speaking Community. Their number is unknown, given the absence of sub-nationality status, estimates of the French-speaking population of Flanders vary from 120,000, around 200,000, to around 300,000. The French Community of Belgium makes up about 41% of the population of Belgium, 58% of the population belongs to the Flemish Community. For years there have been hints that the Community wanted to demonstrate the link between Wallonia and Brussels, the two main territories where the French speakers are in the majority. The independent/private media uses both the alternative and the original designation, in September 2011, the Community adopted a new logo that incorporates its new name. The French Community of Belgium is governed by the Parliament of the French Community, which selects the executive branch, the Parliament of the French Community is the legislative assembly of the French Community of Belgium based in the Quartier Royal. These members are elected for a term of five years, the current President of the Parliament of the French Community is Philippe Courard. Note, Government coalition parties are denoted with bullets The Cabinet of the French Community of Belgium is the branch of the French Community. It consists of a number of ministers chosen by the parliament and is headed by a Minister-President, following the 25 May 2014 election, the PS and CDH parties formed a coalition. A few days later, Milquet was replaced by Marie-Martine Schyns, Schyns took over the Compulsory Education portfolio, which she was already in charge of during the previous legislature. Greoli took over Culture and Child Care from Milquet and also received the Sports portfolio from René Collin, Brussels-Capital Region Commission communautaire française Communities and regions of Belgium Wallonia French Community of Belgium, official website. Parliament of the French Community of Belgium, official website
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Government of the French Community
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The Cabinet of the French Community of Belgium is the executive branch of the French Community of Belgium, and it sits in Brussels. It consists of a number of ministers chosen by the Parliament of the French Community and is headed by a Minister-President, following the 25 May 2014 election, the PS and CDH parties formed a coalition. A few days later, Milquet was replaced by Marie-Martine Schyns, Schyns took over the Compulsory Education portfolio, which she was already in charge of during the previous legislature. Greoli took over Culture and Child Care from Milquet and also received the Sports portfolio from René Collin, walloon Cabinet Flemish Cabinet Politics and Government of the Brussels-Capital Region Website of the Government of the French Community
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German-speaking Community of Belgium
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The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of 854 km2 within the province of Liège in Wallonia, traditionally speakers of Low Dietsch, Ripuarian and Moselle Franconian varieties, the local population numbers over 75, 000—about 0. 70% of the national total. Bordering the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg, the area has its own parliament and government at Eupen, the German-speaking Community of Belgium is composed of the German-speaking parts of the lands that were annexed in 1920 from Germany. However, in these localities, the German language is declining due to the expansion of French, the area known today as the East Cantons consists of the German-speaking Community and the municipalities of Malmedy and Waimes, which belong to the French Community of Belgium. The East Cantons were part of the Rhine Province of Prussia in Germany until 1920, but were annexed by Belgium following Germanys defeat in World War I, thus they also became known as the cantons rédimés, redeemed cantons. The peace treaty of Versailles demanded the questioning of the local population, in the mid-1920s, there were secret negotiations between Germany and the kingdom of Belgium that seemed to be inclined to sell the region back to Germany as a way to improve Belgiums finances. A price of 200 million gold marks has been mentioned, at this point the French government, fearing for the complete postwar order, intervened at Brussels and the Belgian-German talks were called off. The new cantons had been part of Belgium for just 20 years when in 1940 they were retaken by Germany in World War II, the majority of people of the east cantons welcomed this as they considered themselves German. In 1973, three communities and three regions were established and granted internal autonomy, the legislative Parliament of the German-speaking Community, Rat der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft, was set up. Today the German-speaking Community has a degree of autonomy, especially in language and cultural matters. One of the proponents of full autonomy for the German-speaking Community is Karl-Heinz Lambertz. Especially regional autonomy for spatial planning, city building and housing should be considered, the German-speaking Community has its own government, which is appointed for five years by its own parliament. The Government is headed by a Minister-President, who acts as the minister of the Community. Compare to a total of 73,675 on 1 January 2007, in 1989, there was a call for proposals for a flag and arms of the Community. In the end the coat of arms of the Community was designed by merging the arms of the Duchy of Limburg, the coat of arms, in heraldic blazon, is, Arms, Argent, a lion rampant gules between nine cinquefoils azure. The flag shows a red lion together with nine blue cinquefoils on a white field, the colours of the German-speaking Community are white and red in a horizontal position. Government website Parliament website KOKAISL, Petr, KOKAISLOVÁ, Pavla, journal of Social Research & Policy, Vol.6, Issue 1, July 2015
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Parliament of the German-speaking Community
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The Parliament of the German-speaking Community is the legislative assembly of the German-speaking Community of Belgium based in Eupen. The Parliament of the German-speaking Community has 25 members who are elected every 5 years. These are the members who have the right to speak. In addition, there are some members with a consultative vote who are not actually members of the Parliament. Since October 1973 the German-speaking Community has had its own parliament, in 1973, the members were not directly elected, but the distribution of seats was determined by the election results for the national Parliament. However, in March 1974, the first direct elections for the Council of the German Cultural Community took place, the name of the parliament was changed to Council of the German-speaking Community in 1984, and to Parliament of the German-speaking Community in 2004. At the end of 2013, the Parliament moved from its old location in Kaperberg to a building in Kehrweg. The German-speaking Community has powers over cultural, linguistic and personal matters like the Dutch-, the Government of the Walloon Region exercises regional matters over the territory in Parliament through a representative from the German-speaking Community. However, there has been debate as to whether or not German-speakers should have their own region. It is the first time in the history of the German-speaking Community that a government coalition succeeded itself. Under the terms of the agreement, Karl-Heinz Lambertz remained Minister-President and Louis Siquet stayed on as Community Senator until January 2010, in May 2014, a few days after the elections, the three incumbent government parties agreed to continue their government coalition. However, since ProDG became bigger than the Socialist Party in the elections, deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft — Official site of the German-speaking Community
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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
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Political parties in Belgium
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Almost all Belgian political parties are divided into linguistic groups, either Dutch-speaking parties, Francophone parties or Germanophone parties. The Flemish parties operate in Flanders and in the Brussels-Capital Region, the Francophone parties operate in Wallonia and in the Brussels-Capital Region. There are also operating in the comparatively small German-speaking community. No party family has a chance of winning enough seats to govern alone. Political parties are organised along community lines, especially for the three main communities. There are no representative parties active in both communities, even in Brussels, all parties presenting candidates are either Flemish parties, or French-speaking. As such, the organisation of the political parties reflects the fundamentally dual nature of Belgian society. There are no significant parties left who exist, or operate on a national, from the creation of the Belgian state in 1830 and throughout most of the 19th century, two political parties dominated Belgian politics, the Catholic Party and the Liberal Party. In the late 19th century the Labour Party arose to represent the industrial working class. These three groups still dominate Belgian politics, but they have evolved substantially in character, after World War II, the Catholic Party severed its formal ties with the Church. It became a party of the centre. The two parties pursue the same basic policies but maintain separate organisations, the CVP is the larger of the two, getting more than twice as many votes as the PSC. The chairman of the Flemish Catholic party is now Wouter Beke, MP and Brussels Alderman Joëlle Milquet is president of the Francophone Catholic party. Following the 1999 general elections, the CVP and PSC were ousted from office, in 2001, the CVP changed its name to Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams. In 2002, the PSC also changed its name to Centre démocrate humaniste, in Flanders, the New Christian Democrats was founded by Johan Van Hecke and Karel Pinxten. In Wallonia, the Citizens Movement for Change was founded by Gérard Deprez, both parties soon joined the major liberal parties, respectively the VLD in Flanders and the MR in Wallonia. The modern Belgian Socialist parties are the descendants of the Belgian Labour Party and they have lost much of their early Marxist trends. They are now primarily labour-based parties similar to the German Social Democratic Party, the Socialists have been part of several postwar governments and have produced some of the countrys most distinguished statesmen
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