Provinces of Belgium

Belgium is divided into three regions, two of them are subdivided into five provinces each.

The division into provinces is fixed by Article 5 of the Belgian Constitution. The provinces are further subdivided into arrondissements.

Contents

Provincial government

The provincial government consists of three main parts: the Governor, an executive council known as the Permanent Deputation (Dutch: Bestendige Deputatie) in the Flemish Region, or as the Provincial College (French: Collège Provincial) in the Walloon Region, and the Provincial Council (Dutch: Provincieraad, the equivalent of a States-Provincial in the Netherlands), which is elected by the inhabitants of the province for a term of office of 6 years. The Permanent Deputations and the Provincial Colleges consist of seven members: the Governor and 6 Deputies elected by the Provincial Council from among its members. The numbers of seats in the Provincial Councils are proportional to the population of the province.

In Flemish Brabant, there is also a Deputy Governor (Dutch: Adjunct van de gouverneur). The Deputy Governor is appointed by the Flemish Government on the unanimous advice of the Federal Council of Ministers and must have a considerable knowledge of both the Dutch and the French language. He is responsible for ensuring that the language legislation is observed in the peripheral municipalities of Flemish Brabant.

Following the Fifth State Reform, the responsibility for the provincial institutions was devolved to the Regions. The Regions have the power to amend or replace the existing legislation on the provincial institutions, most notably the Provincial Law of 30 April 1836. In the Flemish Region the Provincial Decree of 9 December 2005 applies. In the Walloon Region, the Code of Local Democracy and Decentralisation applies. The legal framework in these Regions is still very similar, but that could change in the future. Although the Regions are responsible for the provincial institutions, the Federal State has retained its responsibility over the provinces in certain cases. For instance, the Regions are responsible for the appointment of the Provincial Governors, but only after the unanimous advice of the Federal Council of Ministers. Legislation regarding the Governor and Vice-Governor of Brussels-Capital, and the Deputy Governor of Flemish Brabant, has also remained a federal competency.

Absence of any province in the Brussels-Capital Region

The Brussels Region in Belgium.

The Brussels-Capital Region does not belong to any province, nor does it contain any. The extra-provincial status of Brussels has existed since 1995, when the former province of Brabant, which had Brussels as its capital, was divided into the Dutch-speaking province of Flemish Brabant and the French-speaking province of Walloon Brabant.

Within this region, nearly all former provincial competencies are assumed by its regional institutions and by the French Community Commission, the Flemish Community Commission or the Common Community Commission. However, the Arrondissement of Brussels-Capital has two commissioners of the Federal Government who are called 'Governor of the Brussels-Capital Region' and 'Vice-Governor'. The Governor exercises most of the few remaining powers elsewhere exercised by a provincial governor, particularly in the field of public order, as far as no (federal) law, (regional) decree, ordinance or decision states otherwise.[1]

The Governor is appointed by the cabinet of the Brussels-Capital Region on the unanimous advice of the Federal Council of Ministers. The regional government also appoints the Vice-Governor, who must have a considerable knowledge of both the French and the Dutch language and who must ensure that the legislation regarding the use of languages is observed in Brussels.[2]

Provinces of the Flemish Region

Province Antwerp Limburg Flemish Brabant East Flanders West Flanders
Dutch name Antwerpen Limburg Vlaams Brabant Oost-Vlaanderen West-Vlaanderen
German name Antwerpen Limburg Flämisch-Brabant Ostflandern Westflandern
French name Anvers Limbourg Brabant flamand Flandre orientale Flandre occidentale
Location BelgiumAntwerp.png BelgiumLimburg.png BelgiumFlemishBrabant.png BelgiumEastFlanders.png BelgiumWestFlanders.png
Flag Flag of Antwerp.svg Vlaams-limburg.png Flemish Brabant Flag.png Oost-vlaanderen.png Flag of West Flanders.svg
Coat of Arms Antwerpen arms.jpg Limburg (Belgium) coa.PNG Wapen vlaams-brabant.png WapenOVl.png West Vlaanderen wapenschild.jpg
HASC[3] BE.AN BE.LI BE.VB BE.OV BE.WV
FIPS[3] BE01 BE05 BE12 BE08 BE09
ISO 3166-2:BE[3] VAN VLI VBR VOV VWV
Postal codes[3] 2000-2999 3500-3999 1500-1999, 3000-3499 9000-9999 8000-8999
Area 2860 km²
21.15% of Flanders
9.38% of Belgium		 2414 km²
17.85% of Flanders
7.92% of Belgium		 2106 km²
15.57% of Flanders
6.91% of Belgium		 2982 km²[4]
22.12% of Flanders
9.81% of Belgium		 3151 km²
23.30% of Flanders
10.33% of Belgium
Capital[3] Antwerpen Hasselt Leuven Gent Brugge
Population 1,682,683
28% of Flanders		 805,786
13% of Flanders		 1,037,786
17% of Flanders		 1,389,199
23% of Flanders		 1,130,040
19% of Flanders
Density 587 / km² 333 / km² 493 / km² 459 / km² 362 / km²
Governor Cathy Berx Herman Reynders Lodewijk De Witte André Denys Paul Breyne
Government CD&V, sp.a, VLD CD&V, sp.a, VLD CD&V, sp.a, VLD CD&V, sp.a, VLD CD&V, sp.a
website www.provant.be www.limburg.be www.vlaamsbrabant.be www.oost-vlaanderen.be www.west-vlaanderen.be

Provinces of the Walloon Region

Province Hainaut Walloon Brabant Namur Liège Luxembourg
French name Hainaut Brabant wallon Namur Liège Luxembourg
German name Hennegau Wallonisch-Brabant Namur Lüttich Luxemburg
Dutch name Henegouwen Waals Brabant Namen Luik Luxemburg
Location BelgiumHaianut.png BelgiumWalloonBrabant.png BelgiumNamur.png BelgiumLiege.png BelgiumLuxembourg.png
Flag Flag of Hainaut.svg Drapeau Province BE Brabant Wallon.svg Flag province namur.svg Liege provence flag.svg Flag of the Province of Luxembourg.svg or[5]

Drapeau Arelerland.svg
Coat of Arms Héraldique Province BE Hainaut.svg Héraldique Province BE Brabant Wallon.svg Blason namur prov.svg Blason liege prov.svg Coat of arms of the Province of Luxembourg.svg
HASC[3] BE.HT BE.BW BE.NA BE.LG BE.LX
FIPS[3] BE03 BE10 BE07 BE04 BE06
ISO 3166-2:BE[3] WHT WBR WNA WLG WLX
Postal codes[3] 7000-7999 (West),
6000-6999 (East,
shared with Luxembourg)		 1300-1499 5000-5999 4000-4999 6000-6999 (shared with Eastern Hainaut)
Area 3800 km²
22.56% of Wallonia
12.44% of Belgium		 1093 km²
6.49% of Wallonia
3.58% of Belgium		 3664 km²
21.75% of Wallonia
11.99% of Belgium		 3844 km²
22.82% of Wallonia
12.58% of Belgium		 4443 km²
26.38% of Wallonia
14.54% of Belgium
Capital[3] Mons Wavre Namur Liège Arlon
Population 1,294,844
38% of Wallonia		 370,460
11% of Wallonia		 461,983
13% of Wallonia		 1,047,414
30% of Wallonia		 261,178
8% of Wallonia
Density 341 / km² 339 / km² 126 / km² 272 / km² 59 / km²
Governor Claude Durieux Marie-José Laloy Denis Mathen Michel Foret Bernard Caprasse
Government PS, MR PS, MR, Ecolo PS, MR PS, MR PS, cdH
website www.hainaut.be www.brabantwallon.be www.province.namur.be www.provincedeliege.be www.province.luxembourg.be

Proposed 11th province (Eupen-Sankt Vith)

Because the German-speaking Community is located entirely within the Province of Liège, it has been proposed on multiple occasions to create an eleventh province, the Province of Eupen-Sankt Vith, which would comprise the 9 municipalities of the German-speaking Community. Most of the functions carried out by provincial organs would then be exercised by the organs of the German-speaking Community.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Proposal for an ordinance, stating the Governor's powers for the "arrondissement Brussels", the latter should be seen as the part of the arrondissement Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde that is not part of the Flemish Brabant province.
  2. ↑ "Factsheet on the Provinces" (PDF). The Belgian Chamber of Representatives. http://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/pri/fiche/28E.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-22. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 "Province of Belgium". statoids.com. http://www.statoids.com/ube.html. 
  4. ↑ "Oost-Vlaanderen: feiten & cijfers". Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen. http://www.oost-vlaanderen.be/public/over_provincie/feiten_cijfers/index.cfm. 
  5. ↑ The tricolour is official, but not in use. The many-striped flag is not official, but is in use."Luxembourg (Province of Belgium)". Flags of the World. March 21, 2009. http://flagspot.net/flags/be-wlx.html. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
  6. ↑ Ferdy Willems and Danny Pieters (21 March 2000). "Proposal of Law creating the Province of Eupen-Sankt Vith and a German-speaking electoral circle for the elections of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate" (in Dutch and French) (PDF). The Belgian Chamber of Representatives. http://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/50/0524/50K0524001.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 
  7. ↑ Jan Loones (VU) (13 July 1995). "Proposal of Law granting all provincial competences to the organs of the German-speaking Community and on the representation of the German language area in the Legislative Chambers" (in Dutch). The Belgian Senate. http://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPubDoc&TID=16778258&LANG=nl. Retrieved 2007-09-02. 

External links