german: Premierminister von Belgien , insignia = State Coat of Arms of Belgium.svg , insigniasize = 100px , insigniacaption =

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, insigniaalt = , flag = Government Ensign of Belgium.svg , flagsize = 125px , flagalt = , flagborder = yes , flagcaption = State Ensign , image = Informal meeting of ministers responsible for development (FAC). Arrivals Alexander De Croo (36766610160) (cropped2).jpg , imagesize = 200px , alt = , imagecaption = , incumbent =

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 ...

, acting = , incumbentsince = 1 October 2020 , department = Executive branch of the
Belgian Federal Government , style = Mr Prime Minister

His Excellency Excellency is an honorific style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", the holder usually retains the ri ...

, type = , status = , abbreviation = , member_of = , reports_to = , residence = ''Le Lambermont'',

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 ...

, seat = 16, Rue de la Loi,

, nominator = , appointer = Monarch of Belgium , appointer_qualified = , termlength = No term limit , termlength_qualified = , constituting_instrument = , precursor = , formation = (de facto)
(de jure) , first = Étienne de Gerlache , last = , abolished = , succession = , unofficial_names = Premier of Belgium , deputy = , salary = €236,900 annually , website
premier.fgov.be
, footnotes = The Prime Minister of Belgium ( nl, Eerste minister van België; french: Premier ministre de Belgique; german: Premierminister von Belgien) or the Premier of Belgium is the head of the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

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 ...

, and the most powerful person in Belgian politics. Although Leaders of Government (French: ) had been appointed since the independence of the country, until 1918 the

King of the Belgians Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's ...

often presided over the Council of Ministers, so the modern era of the "Premiership" started after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

with Léon Delacroix. The political importance of the Crown has decreased over time, whereas the position of Prime Minister has gradually become more important.

, a member of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats and son of prominent politician, Herman, was appointed as new prime minister on 1 October 2020. He succeeded

Sophie Wilmès Sophie Wilmès (; born 15 January 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 2019 to 2020. She later served as minister of Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Reformist Movement, she is the fir ...

History

Since the

independence of Belgium The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. T ...

in 1830, governments have been designated with the name of the minister who formed the government as formateur, but that position did not have a specific status. Originally, from 1831 the

presided over the Council of Ministers, but when he was absent, the presidency was taken by the ''chef de cabinet'' (Head of Cabinet), usually the oldest or most influential minister. This position gradually became more prominent, and the minister with this title then soon acquired the competency to present the King with the proposed allocation of the various ministerial departments among the ministers. With the expansion of voting rights after

, more political parties started to win seats in parliament—especially the

Belgian Socialist Party nl, Belgische Socialistische Partij , logo = Logo of the Belgian Socialist Party.png , caption = The fist and rose emblem used by the party from 1973. , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Achille Van Acker (first)André Cools (last) ...

—and this made it impossible to achieve an absolute majority in parliament. Since then,

coalition government 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 in ...

s have been necessary, which has made the task of forming a government by the appointed formateur more difficult. Consequently, the formateur increasingly gained greater respect, and much prestige. Thus the formateur became prominent as a position of leadership. As the ministers of the government now represented various political parties, there was a need for someone to coordinate the proceedings of the various ministers. The Prime Minister was now asserted as the actual head of government, and this is how the office of Prime Minister came into existence. Gradually, the Head of Cabinet replaced the King more often during the first half of the twentieth century, and as such gained importance within government. As the Constitution requires the King to exercise his powers through the ministers, the Prime Minister became reckoned as the country's most important political figure and ''de facto'' chief executive. Nevertheless, given his newly acquired prominence, as a member of the cabinet the Head of Cabinet continued to lead a ministerial department. The title of ''Prime Minister'' or ''

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

'' was used for the first time in 1918 in official documents and it is at this time that the position was assigned to its own cabinet. Only in 1970 the title was incorporated in 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 ...

with the first state reform.

Function

Besides coordinating government policies, the Prime Minister is responsible for the proper execution of the coalition agreement. The Prime Minister also presides at meetings of the Council of Ministers and manages conflicts of competencies between the ministers. In addition, the Prime Minister represents the government coalition in public, both at home and abroad. It is the Prime Minister who maintains contact with 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 ...

and presents the government policy statement in the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The Prime Minister can also ask Parliament for a vote of confidence, which can even lead to the government's resignation in the case of a constructive vote of no confidence. Unless the Prime Minister resigns because of a personal matter, the whole government resigns with the prime minister's resignation. The Prime Minister also represents Belgium in the various international organisations, alongside the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

. Due to the state reform, the Prime Minister acquired a number of additional tasks, such as keeping in check the relations between the different regions and communities of the country, and presiding at the deliberative committee that consists of the governmental representatives of all the federal entities. It is expected, though not required, that the Prime Minister be fluent in both French and Dutch.

Appointment

The day after the federal elections, the incumbent Prime Minister offers the resignation of his government to the King. The King then asks the resigning government to continue as a

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

until a new government is formed. The King then consults a number of prominent politicians in order to ascertain the different possibilities of forming a government. He usually consults the presidents of the Chamber of Representatives and 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 most important political parties, and other people of political and socio-economic importance. After the consultations, the King appoints an '' informateur'' who is in charge of collecting information from the different political parties about their demands for formation of a new government. After these consultations, the ''informateur'' reports to the King so that the King can find a suitable '' formateur'', who is responsible for forming the government. Usually, it is the ''formateur'' of the federal government who then becomes Prime Minister. It usually takes several months of negotiations before the ''formateur'' is ready to accept a formal royal invitation to form a government. Per the Constitution, the King's acts are only valid with the countersignature of a minister. For this reason, the outgoing Prime Minister countersigns the Act of Appointment of the new Prime Minister, and the new Prime Minister countersigns the Act of Resignation of the resigning Prime Minister. The king then appoints the other ministers and secretaries of state of the

, and their Acts of Appointment are countersigned by the Prime Minister.

Living former prime ministers

Official office

The official office of the Prime Minister is located at 16 Rue de la Loi (Wetstraat in Dutch, or "Law Street" in translation) among many notable Belgian government and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

buildings in the centre of

and around Brussels Park. The residence includes the Belgian Federal Cabinet, the Chancellery and 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 ...

. It functions as the nerve center of Belgian politics. The building was originally erected as the so-called "Refuge House" by the Saint Gertrude Abbey of

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic c ...

. It was designed by the Belgian-Austrian architect Louis Joseph Montoyer. At the time of the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...

(1815–1830), the building was planned to be used as the location for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1830 it was purchased by Prince Eugène of Ligne,Wetstraat 16 – virtueel bezoek – de hal – premier.fgov.be
/ref> and from 1944, the building became state property, after which it was furnished to function as a meeting place for the prime minister and his cabinet.

References