Flemish Brabant ( nl, Vlaams-Brabant ; french: Brabant flamand ) is a province of
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
, one of the three regions 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 ...
. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of
Antwerp,
Limburg,
Liège,
Walloon Brabant,
Hainaut and
East Flanders
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Province of Belgium
, image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg
, flag_size =
, image_shield = Wapen van O ...
. Flemish Brabant also surrounds the
Brussels-Capital Region. Its capital is
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...
. It has an area of which is divided into two administrative districts (''arrondissementen'' in
Dutch) containing 65 municipalities. As of January 2019, Flemish Brabant has a population of 1,146,175.
Flemish Brabant was created in 1995 by the splitting of the former
province of Brabant into three parts: two new provinces, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant; and the
Brussels-Capital Region, which no longer belongs to any province. The split was made to accommodate the eventual division of Belgium in three regions (Flanders,
Wallonia
Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...
and the
Brussels-Capital Region).
The province is made up of two
arrondissement
An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Europe
France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'' ...
s. The
Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement has
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in its middle and is therefore mainly a residential area, even though it also has large industrial zones and contains
Belgium's main airport. The other arrondissement is the
Leuven Arrondissement, centered on
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...
. The province's products include
Belgian beers.
The official language in Flemish Brabant is Dutch (as it is in the whole of Flanders), but a few municipalities are to a certain extent allowed to use French to communicate with their citizens; these are called the
municipalities with language facilities. Other such special municipalities can be found along the border between Flanders and Wallonia, and between Wallonia and the German-speaking area of Belgium. Halle-Vilvoorde mostly surrounds
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, which is officially bilingual but whose inhabitants mostly speak French.
Politics
The Governor is the representative or "commissioner" of the
Federal and the
Flemish Government
The Flemish Government ( nl, Vlaamse regering ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament, ...
in Flemish Brabant. He is appointed by the Flemish Government, on the unanimous advice of the Federal Council of Ministers. From the creation of Flemish Brabant in 1995 as a result of the division of the
Province of Brabant into Flemish and
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
speaking provinces until his retirement in 2020, the Governor was
Lodewijk De Witte. He was succeeded by
Jan Spooren.
The Governor is responsible for supervising the local authorities, ensuring that laws and decrees are observed, maintaining public order and security, and coordinating the response to a disaster which has occurred in his province. He also presides over the Deputation, however, he doesn't have the right to vote in the Deputation except in those cases where the Deputation exercises a judicial function.
Flemish Brabant is the only province that has a Deputy Governor as well. 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
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in ...
. He is responsible for ensuring that the language legislation is observed in the
peripheral municipalities of Flemish Brabant.
The Provincial Council of Flemish Brabant consists of 72 members (84 members until 2012) elected for a term of office of 6 years. The
last election was held on Sunday 14 October 2012. Seven political parties have seats in the Provincial Council:
*
New Flemish Alliance (N-VA): 19 seats
*
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V): 15 seats
*
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld): 13 seats
*
Socialist Party – Different (sp.a): 8 seats
*
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
(Groen): 7 seats
*
Union of Francophones
The Union of Francophones (french: Union des Francophones, UF; nl, Unie van Franstaligen) is a political party in Belgium that participates as electoral lists in regional, provincial, and municipal elections in the Flemish Province of Flemis ...
(UF): 5 seats
*
Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang): 5 seats
The current President of the Provincial Council is An Hermans (CD&V). She is assisted by a Bureau which consists of two Vice-Presidents, four Secretaries, three Quaestors and the
floor leaders of the
fractions in the Provincial Council.
The governing majority in the Provincial Council for 2013–2018 is formed by CD&V, Open VLD, sp.a and Groen. These parties together have a majority of 43 out of 72 seats.
The Deputation is the executive organ responsible for the daily administration of the province. It consists of the Governor and six Deputies elected by the Provincial Council from among its midst. For the 2013–2018 legislative term, the Deputies are divided among the majority parties as follows: two for CD&V, two for Open Vld, one for sp.a and one for Groen.
Economy
The
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...
(GDP) of the province was 49.8 billion € in 2018. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 38,600 € or 128% of the EU27 average in the same year.
Religion
According to the ''International Social Survey Programme 2008: Religion III'' by the
Association of Religion Data Archives,
73.9% of Flemish Brabant's population identified themselves as
Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, 23.1% as
non-religious, and 3% adhered other religions.
Municipalities
Flemish Brabant has 65
municipalities: 35 in the
Arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde
The Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement () is one of the two administrative arrondissements in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. It almost completely surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region and lies to the west of the other arrondissement in the p ...
and 30 in
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...
.
See also
*
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg ...
*
Duke of Brabant
The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven (who was duke of ...
Notes
References
External links
Official web site of the Flemish Brabant province
{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017
Brabant
NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union
Provinces of Flanders