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The Federal Government of Belgium ( nl, Federale regering, french: Gouvernement fédéral, german: Föderalregierung) exercises
executive power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems b ...
in the
Kingdom of Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the ...
. It consists of ministers and secretary of state ("junior", or deputy-ministers who do not sit in the Council of Ministers) drawn from the
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
which form the governing
coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...
. The federal government is led by the
Prime Minister of Belgium german: Premierminister von Belgien , insignia = State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption = Coat of arms , insigniaalt = , flag = Government ...
, and ministers lead ministries of the government. Ministers together form the
Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or ...
, which is the supreme executive organ of the government (equivalent to a
cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...
). Formally, executive power is vested in the
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
, who formally appoints the ministers. However, under the
Constitution of Belgium The Constitution of Belgium ( nl, Belgische Grondwet, french: Constitution belge, german: Verfassung Belgiens) dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility ...
, the king is not politically responsible for exercising his powers, but must exercise it through the ministers. The king's acts are not valid unless countersigned by a minister, and the countersigning minister assumes political responsibility for the act. Thus, in practice, the ministers do the actual day-to-day work of governing.


Function and composition

At the federal level, executive power is wielded by the federal government, whilst the prime minister is the head of the government. Each minister heads a ministry, and secretaries of state, who are deputy to a 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 family across linguistic lines holds an absolute majority of seats in Parliament. The number of ministers is limited to 15, equally divided between French-speaking and Dutch-speaking ministers, according to Article 99 of the Constitution. Although the prime minister is officially exempt from this quota, no francophones held the post from 1979 to 2011. Some of the ministers are also deputy prime ministers; but in addition to taking the position of acting prime minister, they are also the link between the government and their political parties. A deputy prime minister is the voice of their political party within the federal government, and is also the voice of the federal government within their political party. Government meetings are conducted through simultaneous interpreters. The prime minister and his ministers administer the government and the various Federal Public Services (french: Service public fédéral, nl, Federale Overheidsdienst; roughly equivalent to ministries in other countries' administrative organization). As in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, ministers must defend their policies and performance in person before the Chamber. An important de facto body is the "inner cabinet" (''kernkabinet''; ''conseil des ministres restreint'' 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 offers his resignation to the king, and the formation process for a new government starts. The incumbent government remains in office in a caretaker role until the new government is sworn in.De vorming van een regering
belgium.be
This process is based largely on 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 A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. 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 assessing 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 A formateur (French for "someone who forms, who constitutes") is a politician who is appointed to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur ...
. On 5 July 2007 King Albert II appointed
Jean-Luc Dehaene Jean Luc Joseph Marie "Jean-Luc" Dehaene (; 7 August 1940 – 15 May 2014) was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1992 until 1999. During his political career, he was nicknamed "The Plumber" and "The Mineswee ...
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 A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome i ...
and lead the negotiations about the government agreement and the composition of the government. If these negotiations succeed, the Formateur presents a new Federal Government to the king. Usually, the Formateur also becomes the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
. In accordance with article 96 of the
Belgian Constitution The Constitution of Belgium ( nl, Belgische Grondwet, french: Constitution belge, german: Verfassung Belgiens) dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility ...
, the King appoints and dismisses his ministers. However, since all royal acts require the countersignature of a minister, the outgoing Prime Minister countersigns the Royal Order appointing the new Prime Minister, who then countersigns the Royal Order accepting the resignation of his predecessor. The Prime Minister then countersigns 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 A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or m ...
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 led most of the governments in Belgian history. However, from 1999 until 2007, liberal
Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, and has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium ...
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 led by Christian democrat
Yves Leterme Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (; born 6 October 1960 in Wervik) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium, from November 2009 to December 2011. Leterme was th ...
. New elections were called in 2010 after liberal
Open Vld french: Libéraux et démocrates flamands ouverts , abbreviation = Open Vld , logo = , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Egbert Lachaert , foundation = 1992 (VLD)2007 (Open Vld) , predecessor = P ...
quit the government. After a record-breaking government formation, the
Di Rupo Government The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats ( sp.a/ PS), Christian democrat ...
was formed;
Elio Di Rupo Elio Di Rupo (; born 18 July 1951) is a Belgian politician who has served as the minister-president of Wallonia since 2019. He is affiliated with the Socialist Party. Di Rupo previously served as the prime minister of Belgium from 6 December 201 ...
was the first francophone to hold the post of Prime Minister since Paul Vanden Boeynants left 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 following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...
, there was political consensus to not repeat this, and the Michel Government was relatively quickly formed, notably excluding socialists and including the Flemish nationalist
N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( nl, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was founded in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). ...
. In May 2019 federal elections in the Flemish-speaking northern region of Flanders far-right
Vlaams Belang , ideology = , predecessor = Vlaams Blok , position = , europarl = Identity and Democracy , european = Identity and Democracy Party , youth_wing = Vlaams Belang Jongeren , colours = ...
party made major gains. In the French-speaking southern area of Wallonia the Socialists were strong. The moderate Flemish nationalist party the N-VA remained the largest party in parliament. Belgium’s first female prime minister Sophie Wilmes led the caretaker government since October 2019. The parties finally agreed on federal government 16 months after the elections and The Flemish Liberal party politician
Alexander De Croo Alexander De Croo (born 3 November 1975) is a Belgian politician and businessman who has served as the prime minister of Belgium since October 2020. De Croo was born in Vilvoorde, Flemish Brabant, and studied business engineering at the Vrije ...
became new prime minister in October 2020.


Incumbent government

The current
De Croo Government The De Croo Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo since 1 October 2020. History The creation of the De Croo Government occurred on 1 October 2020, 494 days after the 2019 Belgian fed ...
, a seven-party cabinet since October 2020, consists of 14 Ministers in a coalition of the Flemish
Open Vld french: Libéraux et démocrates flamands ouverts , abbreviation = Open Vld , logo = , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Egbert Lachaert , foundation = 1992 (VLD)2007 (Open Vld) , predecessor = P ...
, sp.a,
CD&V Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism (ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party w ...
and
Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.
, and the Walloon
Mouvement Réformateur The Reformist Movement (french: Mouvement Réformateur, MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium. MR is traditionally a conservative-liberal party, but it also contains social-liberal factions. The party is in coalition as ...
, Parti Socialiste and
Ecolo Ecolo, officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales'', (English: Confederate Ecologists for the Organisation of Original Struggles)'' is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The ...
.


See also

*
Belgian federal parliament The Federal Parliament is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives ( Dutch: , french: Chambre des Représentants, german: Abgeordnetenkammer) and the Senate ( Dutch: , french: Sénat, german: Senat). ...
*
Belgian order of precedence {{Precedence Belgian order of precedence (Liste de préséance en Belgique, Lijst van préséance in België) is the formal ranking used at the Royal court during acts of state. Because EU, SHAPE and Nato are all in Belgium, this list is used every ...
* List of governments in Belgium


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Belgian Federal Government * 1831 establishments in Belgium European governments Chancellery