Politics and Government of the Brussels-Capital Region

Brussels

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government
of Brussels

The government of the Brussels-Capital Region is the political administration of the Brussels region of Belgium.[1][2] An election is held every five years. The government is headed by a Minister-President (currently Rudi Vervoort), four ministers and three state secretaries.

Additionally, there is a Governor of the Brussels-Capital Region, who is appointed by the cabinet and has the responsibility to enforce laws concerned with public order in the Brussels-Capital Region. The governor's powers are relatively limited.

The Brussels capital region is divided into 19 municipalities. Each municipality has its own government, responsible for the handling of local level duties, such as law enforcement and the upkeep of schools and roads within its borders.[3] Municipal administration is also conducted by a mayor, a council, and an executive.[3]

Parliament

The Brussels Parliament building

The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region is also known as the Brussels Regional Parliament. It is the main decision-making body for the Brussels-Capital Region. Constitutionally, the parliament is made up of 72 French-speaking members and 17 Dutch-speaking members.

Current composition

Elections of the 89 Brussels regional deputies take place every five years. Following the 2009 regional election, the composition of the Brussels Parliament is as follows:

Party Members
  Reformist Movement 24
  Socialist Party 21
  Ecolo 16
  Humanist Democratic Centre 11
French language group total: 72
  Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats 4
  Different Socialist Party 4
  Flemish Interest 3
  Christian-Democratic and Flemish 3
  Green! 2
  New Flemish Alliance 1
Dutch language group total: 17
Total 89

Functions

The Brussels Parliament role mainly consists in controlling the government of the Brussels-Capital Region, approving the budget and creating and passing legislation in regional matters, known as ordinances, which are legally binding. One of its first tasks after the Parliament is renewed is appointing five ministers and three regional secretaries of state, who together form the cabinet of the Brussels-Capital Region.

The 89 members of the Brussels Parliament are divided into two language groups: 72 belong to the French-speaking group and 17 members belong to the Dutch-speaking group. The members of the French-speaking group also make up the Parlement francophone bruxellois (in English: French-speaking Brussels Parliament), which was formerly known as the Assembly of the French Community Commission, while the members of the Dutch-speaking group make up the Council of the Flemish Community Commission. 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.

19 of the 72 French-speaking members of the Brussels Parliament are also members of the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium. People voting for a Flemish party have to vote separately for 6 directly-elected members of the Flemish Parliament.

Due to the multiple capacities of single members, there are members of the Brussels Parliament who are at the same member of the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium and of the Belgian Senate as "community senators" for the French Community. However, there are certain restrictions in place in order to prevent one person from combining too many mandates. For instance, it is impossible to be a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and of one of the Regional Parliaments at the same time.

Cabinet

The cabinet of the Brussels-Capital region comprises eight members, headed by a Minister-President. There are four ministers in the cabinet, two of which must be French-speaking and two Flemish. Of the three more junior Secretaries of State, at least one must be Flemish. The Minister-President is in practice always a francophone, so the cabinet of the Region has 5 French-speaking and 3 Dutch-speaking members.

Compositions

Composition 2013-2014

Following the 7 June 2009 election, the French-speaking parties     PS,     Ecolo and     CDH formed a coalition with the Dutch-speaking parties     Open VLD,     CD&V and     Groen!. The government was originally led by Charles Picqué but he retired on 7 May 2013 and was replaced by Rudi Vervoort.

Government of the Brussels-Capital Region - Vervoort I
Party Name Function
PS Rudi Vervoort Minister-President; Minister of Local Authorities, Spatial Planning, Monuments and Landscapes, Development Aid and Statistics
VLD Guy Vanhengel Minister of Finance, Budget and Foreign Relations
CD&V Brigitte Grouwels Minister of Public Works, Transport, the Port of Brussels, and IT
Ecolo Evelyne Huytebroeck Minister of Environment, Energy, Water Jurisdiction and City Rejuvenation
CDH Céline Fremault Minister of Employment, Economy, Foreign Trade and Scientific Research
Groen! Bruno De Lille Secretary of State for Mobility, Equal Opportunities and the Civil Service
PS Rachid Madrane Secretary of State for Town Planning, Collection and Processing of Waste and Environmental Maintenance
Ecolo Christos Doulkeridis Secretary of State for Housing/Habitation, Fire Department and Urgent Medical Care

Composition 2009-2013

Government of the Brussels-Capital Region - Picqué IV
Party Name Function
PS Charles Picqué Minister-President; Minister of Local Authorities, Spatial Planning, Monuments and Landscapes, Development Aid and Statistics
VLD Guy Vanhengel Minister of Finance, Budget and Foreign Relations
CD&V Brigitte Grouwels Minister of Public Works, Transport, the Port of Brussels, and IT
Ecolo Evelyne Huytebroeck Minister of Environment, Energy, Water Jurisdiction and City Rejuvenation
CDH Benoit Cerexhe Minister of Employment, Economy, Foreign Trade and Scientific Research
Groen! Bruno De Lille Secretary of State for Mobility, Equal Opportunities and the Civil Service
PS Emir Kir Secretary of State for Public Sanitation and Monument Conservation
Ecolo Christos Doulkeridis Secretary of State for Housing/Habitation, Fire Department and Urgent Medical Care

Composition 2004-2009

After the elections of 2004, the French-speaking parties     PS,     Ecolo and     CDH formed a coalition with the Dutch-speaking parties     Open VLD,     CD&V en     SP.A.

Cabinet of the Brussels-Capital Region - Picqué III
Party Name Function
PS Charles Picqué Minister-President; Minister of Local Power, Urban Planning, Monuments and Landscapes, Urban Renovation, Housing/Habitation, Public Cleansing, Foreign Trade and Development Aid
Open VLD Guy Vanhengel Minister of Finance, Budget, Foreign Relations and regional IT
cdH Benoît Cerexhe Minister of Employment, Economy, Scientific Research, Fire Department and Urgent Medical Care
Ecolo Evelyne Huytebroeck Minister of Environment, Energy et Water Jurisdiction
sp.a Pascal Smet Minister of Mobility and Public Works
PS Françoise Dupuis Secretary of State for Housing/Habitation and Urbanism
PS Emir Kir Secretary of State for Public Cleansing, Monuments and Landscapes
CD&V Brigitte Grouwels Secretary of State for Public Service and the Port of Brussels

List of governments

Minister-President Time in office Party
Charles Picqué (1st term) 12 July 1989 - 22 June 1995 PS
Charles Picqué (2nd term) 22 June 1995 - 15 July 1999 PS
Jacques Simonet (1st term) 15 July 1999 - 18 October 2000 PRL
François-Xavier de Donnéa 18 October 2000 - 6 June 2003 PRL/MR
Daniel Ducarme 6 June 2003 - 18 February 2004 MR
Jacques Simonet (2nd term) 18 February - 19 July 2004 MR
Charles Picqué (3rd term) 19 July 2004 - 19 July 2009 PS
Charles Picqué (4th term) 19 July 2009 - 7 May 2013 PS
Rudi Vervoort (1st term) 7 May 2013 – 20 July 2014 PS
Rudi Vervoort (2nd term) 20 July 2014 – present PS

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Belgian Constitution (English version)" (PDF). Belgian House of Representatives. January 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-05. Article 3: Belgium comprises three Regions: the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels Region. Article 4: Belgium comprises four linguistic regions: the Dutch-speaking region, the French speaking region, the bilingual region of Brussels-Capital and the German-speaking region.
  2. ↑ "Brussels-Capital Region: Creation". Centre d'Informatique pour la Région Bruxelloise (Brussels Regional Informatics Center). 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-05. Since 18 June 1989, the date of the first regional elections, the Brussels-Capital Region has been an autonomous region comparable to the Flemish and Walloon Regions. (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Managing across levels of government" (PDF). OECD. 1997. pp. 107, 110. Retrieved 2009-04-05.

External links