The Wilmès I Government was a caretaker

Federal Government of Belgium The Federal Government of Belgium ( ; ; ) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior", or deputy-ministers who do not sit in the Council of Ministers) drawn from the politi ...

, led by

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Sophie Wilmès Sophie Wilmès (; born 15 January 1975) is a Belgium, Belgian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium from 2019 to 2020. She later served as List of Foreign Ministers of Belgium, minister of foreign affa ...

, the first ever female Prime Minister of Belgium.

History

The creation of the Wilmès Government was announced on 26 October 2019, when previous Prime Minister

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...

announced he would be succeeded by

ultimately on 1 November 2019, effectively forming a new government. Charles Michel left his post as he had been elected to become the next

President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This Institutions of the European Union, institution comprises the college of heads of state or governme ...

as from 1 December 2019 and wanted to have sufficient time to prepare for his role as President of the European Council hence leaving already by November. The Wilmès Government was governing as a

caretaker government A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, 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 co ...

, until a new cabinet was formed based on the results of the federal elections of 26 May 2019, for which negotiations were still ongoing. Hence the government was a continuation of the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

minority

coalition A coalition is 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, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

cabinet of

Christian Democratic and Flemish 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 ...

(CD&V), the

Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (, , Open Vld) is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal ...

(Open Vld) and the

Reformist Movement The Reformist Movement (, , MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest par ...

(MR) which together constituted the Michel II Government. On 16 March, the Wilmès Government was given support by several opposition parties to handle the coronavirus outbreak in Belgium, for which the cabinet was going to be supported by a majority in parliament by granting it special powers under the form of the

Wilmès II Government The Wilmès II Government was a minority Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Minister of Belgium, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès, the first female Prime Minister of Belgium. Wilmès had been selected as a caretaker prime minister follow ...

. The opposition parties were giving support for three months to take corona measures, with a possible further three month extension, were the socialists ( sp.a & PS), the greens (

Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch people, Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.Ecolo Ecolo (), officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales (, ) is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The party is active in Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region. Ecolo's F ...

), the cdH and

DéFI DéFI (), a backronym of Démocrate fédéraliste indépendant () is a regionalist and social-liberal political party in Belgium mainly known for defending French-speakers' interests in and near the Brussels region. Founded in 1964, the party is ...

, leaving only the

N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist, conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). The N-VA is a regionalist an ...

and the PVDA/PTB and

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

in the opposition.

Composition

The composition of the government was similar to that of the Michel II Government, with the only differences being

taking over the role of

as prime minister and David Clarinval coming in to replace Wilmès as Minister of Budget, Civil Service, National Lottery and Scientific Policy.

Changes in composition

* On 30 November 2019, Philippe Goffin took the place of

Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Reformist Movement, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) that served as List of European Commissioners for Justice and Equality, European Commissioner for Justice until 30 ...

, taking over the portfolios of

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

and Defence. Reynders left his post to take up the role of

European Commissioner for Justice The Commissioner for Justice is a post in the European Commission. The portfolios of Justice and Equality were previously combined as ''Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality'' under commissioner is Věra Jourová; however, t ...

in the

Von der Leyen Commission Von der Leyen Commission refers to either of two consecutive European Commissions headed by Ursula von der Leyen: * Von der Leyen Commission I (2019–2024) * Von der Leyen Commission II The second von der Leyen Commission is the current Euro ...

. David Clarinval was appointed the new Deputy Prime Minister for the Mouvement Réformateur

References

{{Belgian governments Belgian governments 2018 establishments in Belgium Cabinets established in 2019 Cabinets disestablished in 2020