Belgian Federal Parliament

Coordinates: 50°50′48″N 4°21′53″E / 50.84667°N 4.36472°E / 50.84667; 4.36472
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Belgian Parliament
)
Federal Parliament

Dutch: Federaal Parlement
French: Parlement fédéral
German: Föderales Parlament
PS
since 13 October 2020
Structure
SeatsSenate: 60
Chamber of Representatives: 150
Senate political groups
Government (37)

Opposition (23)

Chamber political groups
Government (87)
  •  
    PS
    (19)
  •  
    MR
    (14)
  •   Ecolo (13)
  •  
    CD&V
    (12)
  •  
    Open Vld
    (12)
  •  
    Vooruit
    (9)
  •   Groen (8)

Opposition (63)

Elections
26 May 2019
Meeting place
Palace of the Nation, Brussels
Website
www.fed-parl.be

The Federal Parliament is the

communities and regions
.

The Constitution does not mention the Federal Parliament as such; it stipulates that the federal legislative power is exercised by the King and the Chamber of Representatives (and exceptionally the Senate), and defines when the United Chambers convene.

Chamber of Representatives

Main article: Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)

The Chamber of Representatives holds its plenary meetings in the Palace of the Nation, Brussels. Eligibility requirements for the Chamber are a minimum age of 21, citizenship, and residency in Belgium.

The number of seats in the Chamber is constitutionally set at 150 elected from 11 electoral districts. The districts are divided along linguistic lines: 5

bilingual district of Brussels
(15 seats). The districts are the provinces and the Brussels Capital Region. Each district is given a number of seats proportional to its population (not the number of voters) ranging from 4 for
Antwerp
.

All districts have an electoral threshold of 5%, except for

Brussels-Capital region and some 35 Dutch-speaking municipalities in Flemish Brabant, incl. 7 with language facilities for French
-speakers, voters in the 6 municipalities with language facilities surrounding Brussels have been given the right to vote in the Brussels district instead.

The current composition was elected at the federal elections of 2019.

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Senate

Main article: Senate (Belgium)

Since 2014, the Senate consists of 60 members. There are two categories of senators: co-opted senators and senators of community and regional parliaments.

50 senators are elected by and from the

Walloon Parliament, 2 by the French-language group of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region, and 1 by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community
.

The 10 other senators are co-opted: elected by the 50 other senators. Eligibility requirements for the Senate are identical to those for the Chamber.

Before 2014, the Senate consisted of 71 senators, only 21 of which were elected by the community parliaments. 25 were directly elected by the Flemish-speaking constituency and 15 by the French-speaking constituency. The last direct election of these 40 members occurred in the

2014 elections
are the first one with the reformed Senate.

The President of the Senate since 2014 has been

MR
). The Senate holds its plenary meetings in the Palace of the Nation, Brussels.

Legislative procedure

Since the elections of 21 May 1995, there has been a breakdown of powers between the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, which resulted in the latter having fewer competencies than the Chamber of Representatives. Prior to that, the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate did the same parliamentary work on an equal footing, but now there are three different legislative procedures that can be followed: the one-chamber procedure, the optional two-chamber procedure, and the mandatory two-chamber procedure.

In certain matters, both Chambers have equal power. These include constitutional revisions, laws requiring a qualified majority, laws on the basic structure of the Belgian State, laws approving agreements of cooperation between the

Constitutional Court
. In this case, the mandatory bicameral procedure applies, which means that both Chambers must pass exactly the same version of the bill.

For most other legislation, the Chamber of Representatives takes precedence over the Senate and the optional bicameral procedure applies. This means that the Senate may still intervene as a chamber of consideration and reflection. It has the opportunity to, within specific time limits, examine the bills adopted by the Chamber of Representatives and, if there is a reason to do so, make amendments. The Chamber may subsequently adopt or reject the amendments proposed by the Senate or make new proposals. The Senate can also submit a bill it has adopted to the Chamber, which can approve, reject or amend it. Whatever the case, the Chamber has the final word.

The one-chamber procedure applies in cases where the Chamber of Representatives has the sole power to legislate. It means that the Senate cannot intervene and that the Senate's approval is not required for the bill to pass. The matters for which the Chamber of Representatives is exclusively responsible include naturalizations, ministerial liability, State budget, and accounts and military quotas.

National drug commissioner

In February 2023, the Belgium government appointed their first national drug commissioner, Ine Van Wymersch, to fight the rising issue of drug trafficking and organized drug crimes in Belgium.[1] It was part of the federal government’s measures to fight narco-terrorism, which included increased police forces in ports, screening of infrastructure, ramping up fines or imposing rehab for cocaine users to €1,000, auditing port workers, shutting down businesses being used to launder drug money, etc.[2] The government was also to put pressure on the UAE to extradite people involved in drug crimes, including Nordin El Hajjioui, who was living in Dubai and was charged of coordinating cocaine trafficking in Antwerp.[3][4]

United Chambers

The United Chambers (Dutch: Verenigde Kamers, French: Chambres réunies, German: Vereinigten Kammern) is the name given to the body created when both chambers of the Federal Parliament meet in

King must take the constitutional oath before the United Chambers, in accordance with article 91 of the Constitution, and the United Chambers must provide for the regency if the successor to the Crown is a minor or the King is unable to reign, in accordance with articles 92 and 93 of the Constitution. The last session of the United Chambers took place on 21 July 2013, when King Philippe of Belgium took the constitutional oath.[5]

Palace of the Nation

Main article: Palace of the Nation
A view of the Palace of the Nation in the 1890s

The

Gilles-Barnabé Guimard and includes sculptures by Gilles-Lambert Godecharle. Under Austrian rule, it housed the Sovereign Council of Brabant before being used as a courthouse during the French period. During the Dutch period, it was one of two homes of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the other being in The Hague. Following Belgian independence in 1830, the Provisional Government of Belgium and Belgian National Congress moved into the building and the first session of the House of Representatives and Senate was held there a year later.[6]

The building stands across the street from

Dukes of Brabant, which was destroyed by fire in 1731, and has itself been badly damaged by fire, in 1820 and 1883.[7] In the 1930s, a bunker
was built underneath the park, connected by tunnels to the House of Parliament.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Preussen, Wilhelmine (2023-02-17). "Belgium names first national drug czar in fight against narco-terrorism". Politico. Retrieved 2023-02-13.
  2. ^ "National drug commissioner and more police in the port of Antwerp in the fight against drug mafia". Premier.be (in Flemish). 2023-02-16. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  3. ^ Cokelaere, Hanne (2023-02-12). "Belgian government presents plan to fight drug violence that's become 'narco-terrorism'". Politico. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  4. ^ "United Arab Emirates refuse to extradite Antwerp drug criminal". Brussels Times. 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  5. Belgian Chamber of Representatives. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 3 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  6. ^ Mardaga 1993, p. 335.
  7. ^ "Palace Of The Nation - Belgian Federal Parliament on EarthInPictures.com". www.earthinpictures.com. 8 March 2024.

Bibliography

External links

50°50′48″N 4°21′53″E / 50.84667°N 4.36472°E / 50.84667; 4.36472

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