The term
State reform in the Belgian
context
indicates a process towards finding constitutional and legal solutions for the
problems and tensions between the different segments of
the Belgian population.
Background
Language problems
The tensions between the communities of Belgium arose around a
struggle between the two main language communities of the country,
Dutch and
French.
This resulted in extensive language legislation, that
wasn't able to form a solution to the conflicts between Flanders and Wallonia
, the two
main regions of the country.Due to the bad treatment of
Flemish soldiers during
World War I, the
Flemish organized themselves against the mostly French speaking
government. After
World War II, the
differences between Dutch-speaking Belgians and French-speaking
Belgians became clear in a number of conflicts.
In 1950, a
referendum on the position of
King Leopold III was held. The question
asked was whether he should be allowed to return to the throne, in
view of his position during World War II. Nationally, 58% of voters
supported the restoration of Leopold III. However, there were
strong regional differences.
Of those who voted, 72% percent of the people
in Flanders were in favor of his return, while a majority of voters
in Wallonia
and Brussels
opposed his
return. With the support of greater than half of Belgians,
Leopold III returned to the throne. Following his restoration,
anger among Leopold's opponents in Wallonia and Brussels grew into
rioting that the government had struggled to contain. Pressure from
the government forced Leopold III to
abdicate.
In 1960, the
catholic-
liberal government of
Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens introduced a number of budget
cuts. French-language
trade unions went
on strike against the cuts and against the government. They felt
that a more regionalized system was needed to take the measures
that Wallonia needed. They felt that the Walloon interests were
hurt by a Flemish majority in Belgium; they spoke of
un état
belgo-flamand, a Belgian-Flemish state. In response to the
strikes, the government announced a regionalization of
socio-economic policies.
Another tension between the language communities involved the
Catholic University of
Leuven. The university had for long been French-speaking, but
Dutch played an increasingly important role in the twentieth
century.
The tensions between the French-speaking
scientific community and the Dutch-speaking population of the
Flemish city of Leuven
grew
throughout the 1960s. A comment by a French-speaking social
geographer of the university, who suggested that Leuven be included
in the officially bilingual Brussels area, caused demonstrations
from Flemish citizens and politicians; their main slogan was
"Leuven Vlaams - Walen Buiten!"
(Leuven Flemish, Walloons Out!) The tensions
caused the collapse of the government of Prime Minister Paul Vanden Boeynants; the university
was split into the Dutch-speaking Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven
and the French-speaking Université
catholique de Louvain
, united within a common governing
body.
History
In 1970, there was a first state reform, which resulted in the
establishment of three cultural communities: the Dutch Cultural
Community, the French Cultural Community and the German Cultural
Community. This reform was a response to the
Flemish demand for cultural autonomy.
The constitutional
revision of 1970 also laid the foundations for the establishment of
three Regions,
which was a response to the demand of the Walloons
and the
French-speaking inhabitants of Brussels
for economic autonomy. On February 18, 1970,
Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens announces the end of "La
Belgique de papa".
The second state reform took place in 1980, when the cultural
communities became
Communities. The
Communities assumed the authority of the cultural communities with
regard to cultural matters, and became responsible for the 'matters
relating to the person', such as health and youth policy. From then
on, these three Communities were known as the
Flemish Community, the
French Community and the
German-speaking
Community.
Two Regions were established as well in 1980:
the Flemish
Region
and the Walloon
Region
. However, in Flanders it was decided in 1980
to immediately merge the institutions of the Community and the
Region.
Although the creation of a Brussels Region
was provided for in 1970, the Brussels-Capital Region
was not established until the third state
reform.
During the
third state reform in 1988 and 1989, under Prime Minister Wilfried Martens, the Brussels-Capital
Region
was established with its own regional institutions,
as well as Dutch and French institutions for community
matters. The Brussels-Capital Region remained limited to 19
municipalities. Other changes included that the competencies of the
Communities and Regions were expanded. One notable responsibility
that was transferred to the Communities during the third state
reform is education.
The fourth state reform, which took place in 1993 under Prime
Minister
Jean-Luc Dehaene,
consolidated the previous state reforms and turned Belgium into a
fully-fledged federal state. The first article of the
Belgian Constitution was amended to
read as follows, “Belgium is a Federal State which consists of
Communities and Regions”. During the fourth state reform, the
responsibilities of the Communities and the Regions were expanded
again, their resources were increased and they were given more
fiscal responsibilities.
Other major changes included the direct
election of the parliaments of the Communities and the Regions, the
splitting up of the Province of Brabant
into Flemish Brabant
and Walloon Brabant
, and the reformation of the Federal
Parliament
's bicameral system and
the relations between the Federal Parliament and the Federal Government. The
first direct elections for the parliaments of the Communities and
the Regions took place on
May 21,
1995.
However, the fourth state reform was not the end of the process of
federalization. In 2001, a fifth state reform took place, under
Prime Minister
Guy Verhofstadt, with
the Lambermont and the Lombard accords. During the fifth state
reform, more powers were transferred to the Communities and the
Regions, with regard to agriculture, fisheries, foreign trade,
development cooperation, auditing of electoral expenses and the
supplementary financing of the political parties. The Regions
became responsible for twelve regional taxes, and local and
provincial government became a matter for the Regions. The first
municipal and provincial elections under the supervision of the
Regions were the
2006
municipal elections.
The functioning of the Brussels institutions
was also amended during the fifth state reform, which resulted
among other things in a guaranteed representation of the Flemish
inhabitants of Brussels in the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital
Region
.
The fifth state reform is the last state reform to date. However,
several Flemish political parties want a sixth state reform
following the
2007
general election. Major issues that a sixth state reform would
have to deal with include, among others,
Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. This
possible next reform is the core of the debates for the long
lasting
formation of
the federal government 2007.