Federal Government of Belgium

Function and composition

At federal level, the executive power is wielded by the Federal Government, while the Prime Minister is the head of the government . Each minister heads a ministry, and secretaries of state, who are deputy to minister, help run these ministries. The government reflects the weight of political parties that constitute the current governing coalition for the Chamber. No single party or party holds an absolute majority of seats in Parliament.

The number of ministers is limited to 15, being divided between French-speaking and Dutch-speaking ministers, according to Article 99 of the Constitution. Although the Prime Minister is officially exempted from this quota, the French were held in the post of 1979 to 2011. Government meetings are conducted through simultaneous interpreters.

The Prime Minister and his ministers administer the government and the various  Federal Public Services  (roughly equivalent to ministries in other countries‘ administrative organization). As in the United Kingdom , they must defend their policies and performance in person before the Chamber.

An important de facto body is the „inner cabinet“ (  kernkabinet  ;  council of ministers restricted  or  kern  ), consisting of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Ministers. They meet to make the most important political decisions.

Formation

After the elections, the Prime Minister of the former government (which still serves as a new form of government) offers its resignation to the King, and the formation process for a new government starts.  ^[1]  This process is based largely on a constitutional convention rather than written law. The King is first consulted by the President of the Chamber of Representatives and the President of the Senate . The King also meets a number of prominent politicians in order to discuss the election results. Following these meetings, an Informant is appointed.

The Informant has the task of exploring the various possibilities for the new Federal Government and assessing which parties can form a majority in the Federal Parliament .  ^[1]  He also meets with prominent people in the socio-economic field to learn their views on the new federal government should conduct. The Informer then reports to the King and advises him about the appointment of the Trainer.  ^[1]  However, the King can also add a second orator to a royal mediator. The task of the Royal Mediator is to reach an agreement on contentious issues, to resolve remaining obstacles to the training of a Federal Government and prepare the ground for a Trainer . On July 5, 2007 King Albert IIappointed Jean-Luc Dehaene as royal mediator to reach an agreement was new State Reform.  ^[2]

The trainer is appointed by the King on the basis of the informant’s report. The task of the trainer is to form a new government coalition and lead the negotiations on the government agreement and the composition of the government. If these negotiations succeed, the Trainer presents a new Federal Government to the King. Usually, the Trainer also becomes the Prime Minister .  ^[1]

In accordance with Article 96 of the Belgian Constitution , the King appoints and dismisses his ministers. However, Article 88 of the Belgian Constitution states that the King can not act alone and all of his acts must be countersigned by a minister. In practice the outgoing Prime Minister countersigns the Royal Order appointing the new Prime Minister. Subsequently, the new Prime Minister countersigns the Royal Order accepting the resignation of the outgoing Prime Minister and the Royal Orders to the other members of the new Federal Government.

The appointed ministers take the oath of office before the King. After they have taken the oath, the new Council of Ministers meets the bill of government, in which the Federal Government sets out the lines of the government agreement and outlines the government agenda. The Prime Minister reads the declaration of government to the Chamber of Representatives, which then holds a debate on the declaration of government. Following this debate, a vote of Confidence takes place. If the prime minister obtains the confidence of the majority, he can begin implementing the government agreement.

Recent political developments

Catholics and later Christian Democrats have most of the governments in Belgian history. However, from 1999 until 2007, liberal Guy Verhofstadt led two „purple“ governments of liberals and socialists, the first of which also included greens. Afterwards, after difficult negotiations and an interim third Verhofstadt government, a government was eventually formed in 2008 by Christian Democrat Yves Leterme . New elections were called in 2010 after liberal Open Vld quit the government. After a record-breaking government formation , the Di Rupo Government was formed; Elio Di Rupowas the first francophone to hold the post of Prime Minister since Paul Vanden Boeynantsleft office in 1979. The formation of the Di Rupo Government ended the period of political instability between 2007 and 2011 . During the 2014 elections , the Michel Government was relatively quickly formed, including excluding socialists and the Flemish nationalist N-VA .

Incumbent government

The current Michel Government , sworn in on 11 October 2014, consists of 14 ministers and 4 state secretaries formed by a coalition of the Dutch-speaking parties N-VA , Open VLD and CD & V and the French-speaking party MR.

Minister	name	Party
Prime Minister	Charles Michel	MR
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of the Interior , Safety and Director of Buildings	Jan Ham	N-VA
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs	Didier Reynders	MR
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Employment, Economy, Consumer Affairs	Kris Peeters	CD & V
Deputy Prime Minister – Development Cooperation , Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services	Alexander De Croo	Open Vld
Ministry of the Middle Class, SMEs , Self-employed and Agriculture	Denis Ducarme	MR
Minister of Budget	Sophie Wilmès	MR
Minister of Energy	Marie-Christine Marghem	MR
Minister of Mobility	François Bellot	MR
Minister of Pensions	Daniel Bacquelaine	MR
Minister of Defense	Steven Vandeput	N-VA
Minister of Finance and Fiscal Fiscal Fraud	Johan Van Overtveldt	N-VA
Minister of Justice	Koen Geens	CD & V
Minister of Social Affairs and Health	Maggie De Block	Open Vld
Secretary of State	name	Party
Secretary of State for Asylum, Migration and Administrative Simplification	Theo Francken	N-VA
Secretary of State for Equal Rights, Disabled Persons, Scientific Policy and Urban Policy and Combat Poverty	Zuhal Demir	N-VA
Secretary of State for Foreign Trade	Pieter De Crem	CD & V
Secretary of State for Social Fraud, Privacy and the North Sea	Philippe De Backer	Open Vld

See also

• Belgian order of precedence
• Belgian federal parliament
• List of governments in Belgium

Further reading

• Diermeier, Daniel; Eraslan, Hülya; Merlo, Antonio (August 2007). „Bicameralism and government formation“ .  Quarterly Journal of Political Science  . Now Publishing Inc.  2  (3): 227-252. doi : 10.1561 / 100.00005004 .

Notes