BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The executive branch of the 'Belgian federal government' consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior" ministers or smaller departments) drawn from the political parties which form the government coalition. Formally, the ministers are appointed by the King. The Cabinet is chaired by the Prime Minister and the Ministers head executive departments of the government. They have no seat in Parliament.
The number of ministers is limited to 15, with the same number of French-speaking and Dutch-speaking ministers (possibly without taking the Prime Minister into account), according to Art. 99 of the Constitution.
The Prime Minister and his ministers administer the government and the various public services. As in the United Kingdom, ministers must defend their policies and performance in person before the Chamber.
At the federal level, executive power is wielded by the Cabinet. The Prime Minister is President of the Cabinet. Each minister heads a governmental department. The Cabinet reflects the weight of political parties that constitute the current governing coalition for the Chamber. No single party or party family across linguistic lines holds an absolute majority of seats in Parliament. The present Cabinet, the Guy Verhofstadt Cabinet, consists of members of the Flemish Liberal Party (VLD), the francophone Liberal Party (MR), the francophone Socialist Party (PS), the Flemish Socialist Party (SP.a) and its ally, SPIRIT. Guy Verhofstadt offered the Belgian King the resignation of the government after the 2007 general election.

Contents

Principal government officials

Background of ministers

Formation

See also

Principal government officials

In order of protocol ranking:

★ Prime Minister--Guy Verhofstadt (VLD)

★ Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice -- Laurette Onkelinx (PS)

★ Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance -- Didier Reynders (MR)

★ Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Budget and Consumer Affairs -- Freya Van den Bossche (SP.a)

★ Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior -- Patrick Dewael (VLD)

★ Minister of Foreign Affairs -- Karel De Gucht (VLD)

★ Minister of Defence -- André Flahaut (PS)

★ Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, and Science Policy -- Marc Verwilghen (VLD)

★ Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health, State Secretary for European Affairs attached to the Minister of Foreign Affairs -- Didier Donfut (PS)

★ Minister of Middle Classes and Agriculture, Minister of Development Cooperation -- Sabine Laruelle (MR)

★ Minister of Labour -- Peter Vanvelthoven (SP.a)

★ Minister of Civil Service Affairs, Social Integration and Urban Policy -- Christian Dupont (PS)

★ Minister of Transportation and North Sea -- Renaat Landuyt (SP.a)

★ Minister of Environment and Pensions -- Bruno Tobback (SP.a)

★ State Secretary for Modernisation of Finance and the Battle against Fiscal Fraud, attached to the Minister of Finance -- Hervé Jamar (MR)

★ State Secretary for Administrative Simplicifation, attached to the Prime Minister -- Vincent Van Quickenborne (VLD)

★ State Secretary for Labour Organisation and Well-being at Work, attached to the Minister of Employment and Pensions -- Els Van Weert (SPIRIT)

★ State Secretary for Family and Handicapped Persons, attached to the Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health -- Gisèle Mandaila Malamba (MR)

★ State Secretary for Public Enterprises, attached to the Minister of Budget -- Bruno Tuybens (SP.a)

Background of ministers

A number of ministers owe their political positions to their respective dynasty. For example socialist Ministers Van den Bosche, Vanvelthoven and Tobback are the children of former political leaders/ministers. On the liberal side, Patrick Dewael is the nephew and cousin of former liberal ministers.

Formation

After the elections, the process of government formation starts. This process is based largely on constitutional convention rather than written law. The King first consults 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 Informateur is appointed.
The Informateur has the task of exploring the various possibilities for the new Federal Government and examining which parties can form a majority in the Federal Parliament. He also meets with prominent people in the socio-economic field to learn their views on the policy that the new Federal Government should conduct. The Informateur then reports to the King and advises him about the appointment of the Formateur. However, the King can also appoint a second Informateur or appoint a royal mediator. The task of a royal mediator is to reach an agreement on contentious issues, resolve remaining obstacles to the formation of a Federal Government and prepare the ground for a Formateur. On July 5, 2007, King Albert II appointed Jean-Luc Dehaene as royal mediator to reach an agreement on a new State Reform.
The Formateur is appointed by the King on the basis of the informateur's report. The task of the Formateur is to form a new government coalition and lead the negotiations about the government agreement and the composition of the government. If these negotiations succeeds, the Formateur presents a new Federal Government to the King. Usually, the Formateur also becomes the Prime Minister.
In accordance with article 96 of the Belgian Constitution, the King appoints and dismisses his ministers. However, in accordance with article 88 of the Belgian Constitution, the King cannot 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 appointing 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 to draw up the declaration of government, in which the Federal Government sets out the main 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.

See also

★ Belgian federal parliament

★ List of governments in Belgium

★ 2007 Belgian government formation