Last modified: 2011-11-12 by ivan sache
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Four successive reforms of the status of the Belgian state (1970,
1980, 1988-89, and 1993) have been necessary to establish the current
federal status of the Kingdom of Belgium.
The first article of the Belgian Constitution says:
Belgium is a Federal State, which is constituted by Communities and Regions.
The concept of Community is based on the peoples who constitute a community and the links they share, that is, language and culture. Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. Therefore, Belgium includes three Communities: the Flemish Community, the French Community, and the German-speaking Community, corresponding to three groups of peoples.
The concept of Region is based on the
historical aspiration to more economical autonomy. There are three
Regions, the Flemish Region, the Region of Brussels-Capital, and the
Walloon Region, which might be compared to the American States and
the German Länder.
Belgium is further subdivided into 10
Provinces and 589
Municipalities.
The Federal state keeps competences in several domains, such as
foreign affairs, national defense, justice, finances, social security
and an important part of public health and inner affairs.
However, the Communities and the Regions are competent in
establishing relations with foreign countries regarding the domains
they are in charge of.
At the Federal level, the legislative power is exercized on one
hand by the Federal Parliament, which is constituted of two Chambers,
the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, and on the other hand
by the Government, i.e., the King and the
Ministers. The King shall not exercize any
personal power. The Ministers, who countersign the Law proposals
voted by the Parliament and the Royal Decrees, have the
entire responsability of the power.
The 150 (formerly 212) Deputees of the Chamber of Representatives are
elected by direct universal suffrage. The Senate has 71 (formerly
184) members. Forty Senators are directly elected, 25 of them being
Dutch-speakers and 15 French-speakers. Twenty-one Senators are
appointed by the Communities, 10 by the Flemish Council, 10 by the
Council of the French Community, and 1 by the German-speaking
Community. Ten more Senators, 6 Dutch-speakers and 4 French-speakers,
are coopted by the elected and appointed Senators. There are also
ex officio Senators, i.e. certain members of the Royal
family.
The Federal Parliament shall vote the Laws.
The Government is also exercizing the legislative power since it has a right of initiative (i.e., it may submit Law proposals to the Parliament), a right of amendment (i.e., it may submit amendments to the Law proposals submitted by itself or the members of the Parliament) and a power of sanction (i.e., a Law voted by the Parliament can come into force only after having been sanctioned by the Government (the King and the Ministers).
The executive power is exercized by the Federal Government.
The Government shall include no more than 15 Ministers. Excluding the
Prime Minister if necessary, the Government shall have the same
number of French-speaking and Dutch-speaking members. State
Secretaries may be appointed.
The government shall enforce the Laws.
Within the Federal state, the Chamber and the Senate have
different functions.
The Chamber has an exclusive competence in the control of the Federal
Government, the vote of the budget, and the so-called "constructive
detrust motion" (censure motion). In the past, every censure motion
voted by the Parliament against the Government forced it to resign.
Nowadays, the Chamber should propose an alternative majority to force
the Government to resign.
The Senate has an exclusive comptence in the arbitration of
conflicts between the Federal Parliament and the Communitary and
Regional Councils
Other competences are exercized alternatively by the Chamber and
the Senates: proposition of applicants for the Court of Arbitration,
the Court of Appeal and the State Council.
Most competences are exercized by both assemblies. For the most
important competences, such as the revision of the Constitution, the
vote of special Laws and the approval of International Treaties, the
powers of both Chambers are strictly equal. All the other
competencies are exercized by both assemblies, but the Chamber shall
have the last word. The Senate has a role of reflexion, and shall
comment the Law proposals only if necessary. However, the Senate may
submit Law proposals.
The Chamber and the Senate shall manage along with the Government
all the affairs of general interest for the state.
The Federal State exercizes competence in all the affairs of
general interest for the Belgian citizens, i.e., finances, Army,
Gendarmerie, justice, social security, foreign affairs, cooperation,
and an important part of public health and inner affairs. The Federal
State is in charge of a wide "common heritage" including
justice, Army, Gendarmerie, supervision on police services, Laws
organizing the Provinces and the Municipalities, the social security
and the Laws of social protection, the national debt, the monetary
policy, the price and income policy, the protection of saving, the
nuclear energy, the public companies such as the National Company of
Belgian Railways, the Airport of Brussels-National, the Postal
Service, the federal cultural and scientific institutes.
The Federal State shall assume all responsabilities of Belgium and
its subdivisions regarding the European Union and
NATO.
The Federal State is also competent in everything which is not
explicitly included in the competence of the Communities and Regions.
The competences of the Communities and Regions have fuzzy limits,
with several exceptions and restrictions. For instance, the
Regions have competency in economical policy, excepted "the
competences allocated to the Federal State in order to maintain an
economical and monetary union." Similarly, the Regions have
competence in the energy policy, including distribution of natural
gas ans electricity, but the prices are still fixed by the State.
The competences of the Communities include education, but the minimal
requirements for diploma delivery are still fixed by the State.
Ivan Sache, 13 July 2001
The Provinces are:
The Province of Brabant ceased to exist on 1 January 1995 and was split up into the Provinces of Walloon Brabant and Flemish Brabant, together with the Region of Brussels-Capital.
Before 1995, Antwerp was the only Flemish province with an official flag. This flag, adopted in 1928, became obsolete when the present flag was adopted.
Two Walloon provinces adopted officially a flag: Namur, although the Provincial Council uses a square banner of the arms of the province; and Luxembourg.
After 1995, all the Flemish provinces were required to adopt a flag. Walloon Brabant adopted its flag in 1995.
All the banners of arms of the provinces, except Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant, but including Brabant, have been in use since the end of the 19th century, with proportions either 1:1 (square) or 2:3 (rectangle).
Therefore, there are three categories of provincial flags:
The chapter on the flag of the province in the book about the coats of arms in the province of Antwerp [pbd98] says:
In 1953 the Governor of Antwerp sent a query to the other Governors. Hainault, Luxemburg, East Flanders and West Flanders replied they did not have a specific flag. In Brabant, the Belgian tricolour was used, but with horizontal stripes, while Limburg, Liège and Namur used flags with two [vertical] stripes of equal length. Only Antwerp used a flag designed by the Council of Nobility in 1928, three stripes of equal length yellow, red and white. This tricolour, however, was never popular. Apart from that, specialized companies already sold for many years square or sometimes rectangular flags with the arms of the respective provinces covering the whole field.
In Flanders, the local flags and arms are prescribed by the Decree on local symbols, adopted on 27 April 2007, and superseding earlier Decrees adopted on 21 December 1994 and 28 January 1977.
However, Article 3, § 2, of the new Decree says:
The municipal arms and flags prescribed by Decree of 28 January 1977 prescribing the arms and the flag of the municipalities, as well as the provincial flags and arms, as well as the municipal flags and arms prescribed by Decree of 21 December 1994 prescribing the arms and the flag of the provinces and of the municipalities, shall keep force of law.
These arms and flags can be superseded, only invoking new facts or reasons, by a Decision of the Provincial Council or of the Municipal Council, approved by the Flemish Government, according to the prescriptions of § 3 of Article 4.
A proposal of flag for the province of East Flanders was indeed rejected by the Flemish Heraldic Council.
Pascal Vagnat, Mark Sensen & Ivan Sache, 19 June 2008
