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 Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

factions. The party is in coalition as part of the Michel Government then Wilmès Government since October 2014, having provided two prime ministers since. After the 2007 general election the MR was the largest

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the ...

political formation in Belgium, a position that was regained by the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

in the 2010 general election. The MR is an alliance between three French-speaking and one German-speaking liberal parties. The Liberal Reformist Party (PRL) and the

Francophone Democratic Federalists French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the la ...

(FDF) started the alliance in 1993, and were joined in 1998 by the Citizens' Movement for Change (MCC). The alliance was then known as the PRL-FDF-MCC federation. The alliance became the MR during a congress in 2002, where the German-speaking liberal party, the

Party for Freedom and Progress The Party for Freedom and Progress ( nl, Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang; french: Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès; german: Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt, PVV-PLP) was a liberal political party in Belgium which existed from 1961 unt ...

joined as well. The label PRL is no longer used, and the three other parties still use their own names. The MR is a member of

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism aroun ...

and the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; french: Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe, ADLE) is a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Euro ...

(ALDE) Party. However, on 25 September 2011, the FDF decided to leave the coalition. They did not agree with the manner in which president Charles Michel defended the rights of the French-speaking people in the agreement concerning the splitting of the

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde The area within Belgium known as Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde encompasses the bilingual—French and Dutch— Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides with the arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and the surrounding Dutch-speaking area of Halle-Vil ...

district, during the

2010–11 Belgian government formation 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Ideology and policies

Although the MR's original ideology emphasised

classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, e ...

and

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

economics, it has of late joined the general trend of Belgian liberals to accept elements of

social liberalism Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

under the influence of

Dirk Verhofstadt Dirk Verhofstadt (born 25 August 1955 in Dendermonde) is a Belgian social liberal (Rawlsian) theorist and younger brother of former Belgian Prime Minister and former ALDE European Parliament Leader Guy Verhofstadt. He has a keen interest in ...

, whose brother

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 the MR's Flemish counterpart, the

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 = ...

. On its current platform, the party states that it is economically and socially liberal. It supports lower taxes, aims to maximize the well-being of citizens but also wants to fight tax evasion. MR also supports Belgian participation in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Presidents

* 2002–2003: Daniel Ducarme * 2003–2004:

Antoine Duquesne Antoine Duquesne (; 3 February 1941 – 4 November 2010) was a Belgian politician and Member of the European Parliament for the French Community of Belgium with the MR/ MCC/ PRL, Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats fo ...

* 2004–2011: Didier Reynders * 2011–2014: Charles Michel * 2014–2019:

Olivier Chastel Olivier Chastel (born 22 November 1964, in Liège) is a Belgian pharmacist and politician of the Liberal Party " Mouvement Réformateur" (MR) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Early life and education Afte ...

* 2019: Charles Michel * 2019–present:

Georges-Louis Bouchez Georges-Louis Bouchez (GLB), (born March 23, 1986) is a Belgian politician and lawyer. Since 2019 he has served as a Senator and leader of Mouvement réformateur. Early life Bouchez was born in Frameries on March 23, 1986 to modest, self-employ ...

Representation in EU Institutions

In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

, Mouvément Reformateur sits in the Renew Europe group with two MEPs. In the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

, Mouvément Reformateur sits in the Renew Europe CoR group, with two full and one alternate member for the 2020-2025 mandate. Willy Borsus is an ex officio member of the Renew Europe CoR Bureau.

Electoral results

Chamber of Representatives

Senate

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Walloon Parliament

European Parliament

Notable figures

Willy Borsus Willy Borsus (born 4 April 1962) is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the Reformist Movement (MR). He was the 14th Minister-President of Wallonia from the 28th of July 2017 to the 13th of September 2019. Political career Political mand ...

Christine Defraigne Christine Defraigne (born 1962) is a Belgian politician and a member of the MR. She was the President of the Belgian Senate, in office 2014 to 2018. Political views In 2009 Christine Defraigne proposed a nationwide ban of the burqa. She has al ...

* Alain Destexhe * Daniel Ducarme *

* Jean Gol * Sabine Laruelle * Charles Michel * Louis Michel * Didier Reynders * Jacques Simonet

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mouvement Reformateur Conservative liberal parties Classical liberal parties Francophone political parties in Belgium Liberal International Liberal parties in Belgium Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Political parties established in 2002 2002 establishments in Belgium Pro-European political parties in Belgium