nl, Socialistische Partij
german: Sozialistische Partei
, abbreviation = PS
, logo = Socialist Party (Belgium) logo.svg
, leader1_title = President
, leader1_name =
Paul Magnette
, foundation = 1978
, predecessor =
Belgian Socialist Party
, headquarters = National Secretariat
Bd de l'Empereur/Keizerslaan 13, Brussels
, youth_wing =
Movement of Young Socialists
The Movement of Young Socialists (french: Mouvement des Jeunes Socialistes, MJS) or simply ''Jeunes Socialistes'' is the youth organisation of the Socialist Party of Belgium.
The MJS is member of the Young European Socialists (YES) and Internati ...
, think_tank =
Institut Emile Vandervelde
An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countries, institutes can ...
, ideology =
Progressivism
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...
[https://www.ps.be/Content/Uploads/PSOfficiel/PDFs/170%20engagements%20A5-3.pdf ] Eco-socialism[https://www.ps.be/Content/Uploads/PSOfficiel/PDFs/170%20engagements%20A5-3.pdf ]Pro-Europeanism
Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Politi ...
, position =
, international =
Progressive AllianceSocialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing political philosophy that su ...
, european =
Party of European Socialists
The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic and Progressivism, progressive European political party.
The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus ...
, europarl =
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...
, affiliation1_title = Flemish counterpart
, affiliation1 =
Vooruit
, seats1_title =
Chamber of Representatives(French-speaking seats)
, seats1 =
, seats2_title =
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 e ...
(French-speaking seats)
, seats2 =
, seats3_title =
Walloon Parliament
, seats3 =
, seats4_title =
Parliament of the French Community
, seats4 =
, seats5_title =
Brussels Parliament(French-speaking seats)
, seats5 =
, seats6_title =
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 ...
(
French-speaking seats)
, seats6 =
, colours =
Red
, website =
, country = Belgium
The Socialist Party
(french: Parti socialiste, PS) is a
social democratic French-speaking political party in Belgium. As of the
2019 elections
The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in coun ...
, it is the third largest party in the
Belgian Chamber of Representatives
The Chamber of Representatives ( Dutch: , french: link=no, Chambre des représentants, german: link=no, Abgeordnetenkammer) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered ...
and the largest Francophone party. The party is led by
Paul Magnette. The party supplies the
Minister-president
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...
of the
French Community (
Rudy Demotte), and the
Brussels-Capital Region
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 ...
(
Rudi Vervoort). In the German-speaking community, the party is known as the ''Sozialistische Partei'' (SP).
The PS is very commonly part of governing coalitions, and dominates most local authorities because of the extremely fragmented nature of Belgian political institutions, particularly in Francophone areas. In the years since 1999, the PS has simultaneously controlled five regional executive bodies: the
Government of the French Community, the
Walloon Government, the
Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the
COCOF
The ''Commission communautaire française'' (COCOF) or the French Community Commission is the local representative of the French-speaking authorities in the Brussels-Capital Region, one of the three regions of Belgium.
On 3 December 2001, the ''A ...
, a local subsidiary in Brussels of the French Community Government, and the
Government of the German-speaking Community.
The party, or its members, have from time to time been brought into connection with criminal activities and political scandals, mostly concerning
bribery
Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Co ...
and financial fraud (
Cools assassination,
Agusta scandal, Dassault Affair,
Carolorégienne affair
Between 2005 and 2007, many court cases implicated personalities of the municipal government in the city of Charleroi in Belgium.
In October 2006, mayor Jacques Van Gompel of the PS was jailed on fraud and forgery charges. 3Léon Casaert, also of ...
,
ICDI affair). The Carolorégienne affair caused
Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down as
Minister-President of the Walloon region.
Electoral results
The PS performed well in the
2003 general election, but were overtaken as the largest Francophone party by the
Reformist Movement in the
2007 general election
In the 10 June 2007
general elections, the party won 20 out of 150 seats in the
Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in 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 e ...
. The PS was a member of the
Leterme I Government
The Leterme I Government was the federal government of Belgium from 20 March 2008 to 22 December 2008. It took office when the Flemish Christian democrat Yves Leterme (CD&V) was sworn in as Prime Minister. It followed the Belgian general elec ...
,
Van Rompuy I Government,
Leterme II Government and currently the
Di Rupo I Government of 6 December 2011, with former PS leader Elio Di Rupo serving as
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 ...
.
Timeline
Results for the
Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium.
ImageSize = width:650 height:210
PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100
AlignBars = justify
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:16
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:0
PlotData=
bar:% color:red width:22 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1978 from:start till:13.1 text:" 13.1"
bar:1981 from:start till:12.7 text:"12.7
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. ...
"
bar:1985 from:start till:13.8 text:" 13.8"
bar:1987 from:start till:15.6 text:" 15.6"
bar:1991 from:start till:13.5 text:" 13.5"
bar:1995 from:start till:11.9 text:" 11.9"
bar:1999 from:start till:10.2 text:" 10.2"
bar:2003 from:start till:13.0 text:" 13.0"
bar:2007 from:start till:10.86 text:" 10.86"
bar:2010 from:start till:13.70 text:" 13.70"
bar:2014 from:start till:11.67 text:" 11.67"
bar:2019 from:start till:9.46 text:" 9.46"
Ideology
The ideology and image of the PS is a mix of
social-democracy
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...
, combined with a modern electoral marketing. In its political program, the party claims to be progressive and ecosocialist.
[https://www.ps.be/Content/Uploads/PSOfficiel/PDFs/170%20engagements%20A5-3.pdf ]
Notable figures
Chairmen
*
André Cools, 1978–1981 (previously leader of the Walloon branch of the BSP/PSB)
*
Guy Spitaels, 1981–1992
*
Philippe Busquin, 1992–1999
*
Elio Di Rupo, 1999–2011
*
Thierry Giet
Thierry is a French male given name, derived from the Germanic "Theodoric". It is the cognate of German " Dietrich" and " Dieter", English Terry, Derek and Derrick, and of various forms in other European languages. It is also a surname.
People ...
, 2011–2013 (ad interim)
*
Paul Magnette, 2013–2014 (ad interim)
*
Elio Di Rupo, 2014–2019
*
Paul Magnette, 2019–
Other
*
Rudy Demotte
*
André Flahaut
*
Jean-Claude Marcourt
Jean-Claude Marcourt (16 October 1956) has been, since 2019, the President of the Parliament of Wallonia. He was the Vice-Minister-President and Minister of Economy and Foreign Affairs of the Walloon government, and Vice-Minister-President and ...
*
Philippe Moureaux
*
Laurette Onkelinx
*
Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe
Electoral results
Chamber of Representatives
Senate
Regional
Brussels Parliament
Walloon Parliament
German-speaking Community Parliament
European Parliament
See also
*
Charter of Quaregnon
References
External links
*
Official website of German-speaking section
{{Party of European Socialists
Francophone political parties in Belgium
Social democratic parties
Full member parties of the Socialist International
Party of European Socialists member parties
Regionalism (politics)
Political parties established in 1978
1978 establishments in Belgium
Socialist parties in Belgium
Progressive Alliance
Centre-left parties in Europe