Belgium

## Contents

1.General information about the policy process

2.Main national actors

2.1.National actors involved

2.2.Regional or local actors involved

3.The relationship between actors

4. The policy of Belgium within the EU

5. See also

5.1. Regional Parliaments' Participation in the Early Warning Mechanism

5.2. Air policy

5.3 Asylum and Migration

6. References

**1.General information about the policy process**

The Kingdom of Belgium is a federal state, composed of communities and 3 main regions: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. (Article 1 of the Belgian Constitution, The Kingdom of Belgium).

Through a series of national reforms that aimed at giving more power to the region, the power to make decisions is no longer the exclusive preserve of the federal government and the federal parliament. The leadership of the country is now in the hands of various partners, who independently exercise their authority within their domains.

https://www.belgium.be/en/about\_belgium/country/history/belgium\_from\_1830/formation\_federal\_state

**2.Main national actors**

There are 3 levels of decision-making which will further be explored in this chapter (decision-making in Flanders).

The national government makes the nation-wide applicable laws while the regional authorities issue decrees corresponding to their regional requirements and needs. The provincial and local governments finally make their own regulations.

**2.1.National actors involved**

(http://www.belgium.be/en/about\_belgium/government/federale\_staat, Belgische Federale Regering)

The Federal Government: The Federal Government retains important powers, for example in the area of foreign affairs, national defence, justice, finance, social security, important parts of national health and domestic affairs. However, the communities and the regions also have the power to establish and maintain foreign relations.

Federal government of Belgium
Reconciling regional and cultural identities within a federal structure is easier said than done. Yet, it has the advantage of taking the decision process closer to the population. The result is a more sharply defined political structure with a greater emphasis on the quality of life.

**2.2.Regional or local actors involved**

(http://www.belgium.be/en/about\_belgium/government/federale\_staat, The regions of Belgium)

The Communities: The redistribution of power occurred along two lines. The first line relates to language and, in a broader sense, to everything related with personal matters (e.g. cultural affairs, sports, education, research, health, well-being and language use). The result was several communities. The concept of 'community' refers to persons that make up a community and the bond that unifies them, namely their language and culture. Belgium sits across the fault line that separates German and Latin cultures. This explains why the country has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. As a result, Belgium today, has three communities: the Flemish Community, the French Community and the German-speaking Community. These communities therefore correspond with the population groups.

The Regions: The second line of state reform was historically inspired by economic interests. The regions, which aspired to more economic autonomy, conveyed these interests. The establishment of the three regions was the result: the Flemish Region, the Brussels Capital Region and the Walloon Region. Up to a certain level they can be compared with the American states or the German 'Länder'. The regions are competent for matters related to their respective territory.

The country is further divided into 10 provinces and 589 municipal councils with their own respective powers.

**3.The relationship between actors**

http://www.belgium.be/en/about\_belgium/government/federale\_staat/structure

Under the reform of the state, the pyramid of the unitarian state made way for a more complex three-level structure.

At the top level, we now find the Federal State, the Communities and the Regions, all three of which are equal from the legal viewpoint. They are on an equal footing but have powers and responsibilities for different fields.

The next level down is still occupied by the provinces. Before the state reform of 1993, the provinces were only under the supervision of the central state. Now they are supervised by all the higher government authorities, in the context of the federal, community or regional powers.

At the bottom of the pyramid, we find the communes, which is the level of administration that is closest to the people. Like the provinces, they are under the supervision of the higher authorities. Depending on the powers exercised, they are supervised by the Federal State, the Community or the Region. In general, they are financed and audited by the Regions. Each commune is also allowed to raise a communal income tax for its own financing.

**4. The policy of Belgium within the EU**

https://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/coordination-european-affairs/policy-belgium-within-eu/transposition

The Commission is responsible of monitoring the transposition process for all the directives in the Member States. Each delay in the transposition of a directive leads to infringement proceedings. The Commission publishes a semi-annual Single Market Scoreboard, in which the Member States are specifically ranked based on their transposition process. For the temporary transposition of directives, the European Commission will tolerate a maximum deficit of 1% (between the number of Single Market directives adopted at a European level and the number of Single Market directives transposed by the Member States). For guidelines with a transposition delay of two years or more, a zero-tolerance standard is applied.

In 2015, after Belgium was close to a transposition deficit of 3% (2.8%), the efforts of all the actors working on transposition ensured that Belgium could accomplish a score of 0.8% in the December 2019 scoreboard. In doing so, Belgium was not only respecting the maximum deficit, but also had no more directives with a transposition delay of 2 years or more. The period without a government with full powers and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis have led to a poorer transposition deficit for Belgium once more, owing to shifting priorities. This is why Belgium needs to make every effort to reach a smaller transposition backlog.

**5. See also**

**5.1.Regional Parliaments' Participation in the Early Warning Mechanism**

(https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/580913/EPRS\_IDA(2016)580913\_EN.pdf)

Although EWM protocol allocates votes only to national parliaments and their chambers, but in the case of Belgium, regional parliaments are assimilated into national parliaments which allows regional parliaments to vote. A vote for early warning purposes can be cast at the federal level by the two chambers of the Belgian federal parliament and at the regional/community level by the Flemish Parliament, the Walloon Parliament, the Brussels-Capital Region Parliament, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Parliament and the German-speaking community parliament. The parliaments of the Communities and the Regions act as components of the national parliamentary system or chambers of the national Parliament.

The Belgian approach has led to some raised eyebrows as this unilateral definition of 'national parliament' may have important political and legal consequences,47 and seems to go against the letter of the protocol, which makes an explicit distinction between national and regional parliaments. At the same time, however, as long as no Union-wide definition of national parliament exists it has been suggested that, given national constitutional autonomy, Member States should be allowed at least some leeway in defining the term, albeit within certain limits.

**5.2.Air policy**

Air policy has been decided on a regional level in Belgium since 1994 with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs having a coordinating role.

**5.3. Asylum and Migration**

https://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/coordination-european-affairs/policy-belgium-within-eu/freedom-security-and-justice

In September 2020, the European Commission proposed a new Pact on Migration and Asylum. By seeking to provide a comprehensive approach to migration, the Pact aims to restart negotiations on the reform of the Common European Asylum System. This will require the endorsement of the Council and the European Parliament.

Belgium has always supported the implementation of an European asylum policy. Our country believes that cooperation in Europe must be intensified in order to bring about uniform procedures, fair burden sharing, better reception standards, reinforced external borders and better protection in the regions of origin.

In the discussions on this European Pact and against the backdrop of the global strengthening of human rights, our country adopts a constructive approach, aiming in particular at a fair balance between solidarity and responsibility on the one hand, and between internal and external aspects on the other.

**6. References**

Belgium: official information and services. Formation of the federal state. Available at:

https://www.belgium.be/en/about\_belgium/country/history/belgium\_from\_1830/formation\_federal\_state

Belgium: official information and services. Understanding the federal state. Available at:

https://www.belgium.be/en/about\_belgium/government/federale\_staat

Belgium: official information and services. Structure. Available at:

https://www.belgium.be/en/about\_belgium/government/federale\_staat/structure

European Parliament. Regional participation in EU decision-making

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/580913/EPRS\_IDA(2016)580913\_EN.pdf