Priority dossiers under the Belgian EU Council Presidency

Written by Eszter Balázs and Isabel Teixeira Nadkarni (Legislative Planning and Coordination Unit, Directorate-General for the Presidency).

The Kingdom of Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, with the monarch as Head of State and a prime minister as Head of Government.

The current monarch, King Philippe/Filip has been on the throne since 21 July 2013, his heir apparent is Princess Elisabeth, the daughter of the monarch. The King has wide legislative powers constitutionally but is relieved of all responsibility, with his ministers signing the bills and royal decrees. It is the King’s task to appoint the prime minister, who is usually the leader of the majority coalition after legislative elections. The King is the symbol of the unity of the nation.

Upon appointment by the King, the prime minister has to be approved by the parliament’s Chamber of Representatives. The current prime minister is Alexander De Croo of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld) party, which sits in the Renew Group in the European Parliament.

After the May 2019 federal, regional and European elections, caretaker governments of the outgoing Prime Minister Charles Michel (elected president of the European Council from December 2019) and then Sophie Wilmès ran federal affairs for a total of 494 days before the establishment of the De Croo government, which is a coalition of seven parties:

• Open Vld (Flemish liberal)
• MR (Francophone liberal)
• Vooruit (Flemish socialist)
• PS (Francophone socialist)
• CD&V (Flemish Christian democrats)
• Ecolo (Francophone greens)
• Groen (Flemish greens)

The significant delay in the formation of the government was due to a collapse of the centre in the 2019 elections. The three traditional political families – socialists, liberals and Christian democrats – lost representation in the Chamber, to the benefit of the Flemish far right (Vlaams Belang, 18 seats, +15), the far left (PTB–PVDA, 12 seats, +10), and the greens (Ecolo–Groen, 21 seats, +9). The socialists (PS–Vooruit, 29 seats, -7, one MP was later excluded from the PS) remained the largest political family, followed by the liberals (MR–Open Vld, 26 seats, -8) and the Flemish nationalists (N‑VA, 25 seats, -8).

The government does not have a majority in the Flemish language group. It has 15 ministers and has to consist of the same number of Dutch- and French-speakers, not counting the Prime Minister.

Since 1993, when Belgium became a federal state in a series of state reforms started in 1970, decision-making powers are divided between three levels of government: the federal government, three language-based communities (Flemish, French and German-speaking) and three regions (Flanders, Brussels Capital and Wallonia). Legally they are all equal, but have powers and responsibilities for different fields.

The federal level has retained power in areas that concern all Belgians: foreign affairs, defence, justice, finance, social security, public health and home affairs.

The communities are competent within language areas for all matters that concern their language speakers, e.g. culture, the audiovisual sector, and education. They are also competent for international affairs in these areas.

The regions have authority over the economy, employment, agriculture, housing, public works, energy, transport, environment and territorial planning in their territories.

As communities and regions are competent for international affairs of their internal competences, community or regional ministers can represent the Kingdom of Belgium in various formations of the Council of the EU. A cooperation agreement between Belgium and the Council, governing Belgian representation in the Council, has long been under negotiation.

Due to the country’s institutional complexity, the conclusion and implementation of EU level decisions is often a complex and prolonged process under which the different levels of power need to agree. This has been the case, for instance, in the area of the fight against climate change, the ratification of EU trade agreements and Belgian positions on the EU budget.

The federal parliament is bicameral, but effective power resides in the 150-member Chamber of Representatives, elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The upper house is the 60-member Senate, indirectly elected for a five-year term. It is a non-permanent assembly serving as a forum for reflection, that is expected to pronounce on proposals if it considers it necessary.

Chamber of Representatives: 150 members

• of which government: 87 members

Parti socialiste (PS, in S&D): 19 members
Mouvement Réformateur (MR, in Renew): 14 members
Écologistes Confédérés pour l’organisation de luttes originales (Ecolo, in Greens/EFA): 13 members
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V, in EPP): 12 members
Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (Open Vld, in Renew): 12 members
Vooruit (in S&D): 9 members
Groen (in Greens/EFA): 8 members

• opposition: 63 members

Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA, in ECR): 24 members
Vlaams Belang (in ID): 18 members
Partij van de Arbeid van België – Parti du Travail de Belgique (PVDA-PTB, in The Left): 12 members
Les Engagés (in EPP): 5 members
Démocrate fédéraliste indépendant (DéFI, not currently represented in the EP): 2 members
Independent: 2 members

The next federal, regional and European elections take place on 9 June 2024, in the last month of the Belgian Presidencyof the Council of the EU.

The country assumes the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the 13th time in 2024, after its previous stint in 2010, when it was conducted by a caretaker government. It is the middle member of a trio with Spain (at the helm in the second half of 2023) and Hungary (taking over from Belgium on 1 July 2024).

Read the complete briefing on ‘Priority dossiers under the Belgian EU Council Presidency‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.