Flemish Government

Flemish Government

Emblem of the Flemish government
Government overview
Jurisdiction	Flanders (Community / Region)
Headquarters	Martyrs' Square, Brussels, Belgium
Annual budget	€ 44.7 billion (2018)
Website	www.flanders.be

The Flemish Government (Dutch:  Vlaamse regering ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament, and the public administration (civil service) divided into 13 policy areas, each with an executive department and multiple agencies.

The Flemish Government cabinet consists of up to a maximum of eleven ministers, chosen by the Flemish Parliament. At least one minister must come from Brussels. The ministers are drawn from the political parties which, in practice, form the governing coalition. The Government is chaired by the Flemish Minister-President. Ministers head executive departments of the government administration. Ministers must defend their policies and performance in person before the Flemish Parliament. The Flemish Government must receive and keep the confidence of the Flemish Parliament. Until 1993 the Flemish Government was called the Flemish Executive (Vlaamse Executieve).

Cabinet composition

Bourgeois (current)

Government coalition 2014-present

Following the 25 May 2014 election,   N-VA (43 seats),   CD&V (27 seats) and   Open Vld (19 seats) parties formed a coalition.

Flemish Government - Bourgeois 2014-2019
	Party	Name	Function
	N-VA	Geert Bourgeois	Minister-President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Foreign Policy and Immovable Heritage
	CD&V	Hilde Crevits	Vice minister-president of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Education
	Open Vld	Annemie Turtelboom (until April 29, 2016)	Vice minister-president of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Finance, Budget and Energy
	Open Vld	Bart Tommelein (from April 29, 2016)	Vice minister-president of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Finance, Budget and Energy
	N-VA	Liesbeth Homans	Vice minister-president of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Public Governance, Civic Integration, Housing, Equal Opportunities and Poverty Reduction
	CD&V	Jo Vandeurzen	Flemish Minister for Welfare, Public Health and Family
	Open Vld	Sven Gatz	Flemish Minister for Media, Culture, Youth and Brussels
	N-VA	Ben Weyts	Flemish Minister for Mobility and Public Works, the Brussels Periphery, Tourism and Animal Welfare
	CD&V	Joke Schauvliege	Flemish Minister for Town and Country Planning, Environment and Nature
	N-VA	Philippe Muyters	Flemish Minister for Work, Economy, Innovation, Scientific Policy and Sport

Peeters II (2009-2014)

Following the 7 June 2009 election,     CD&V (31 seats),     N-VA (16 seats) and     SP.A (19 seats) parties formed a coalition.

Government coalition 2009-2014

Flemish Government - Peeters II 2009-2014
	Party	Name	Function
	CD&V	Kris Peeters	Minister-President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Economy, Foreign Policy, Agriculture and Rural Policy
	SP.A	Ingrid Lieten	Vice minister-president of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Innovation, Public Investment, Media and Poverty Reduction
	N-VA	Geert Bourgeois	Vice minister-president of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Public Governance, Local and Provincial Government, Civic Integration, Tourism and the Brussels Periphery
	CD&V	Jo Vandeurzen	Flemish Minister for Welfare, Public Health and Family
	CD&V	Hilde Crevits	Flemish Minister for Mobility and Public Works
	SP.A	Freya Van den Bossche	Flemish Minister for Energy, Housing, Cities and Social Economy
	N-VA	Philippe Muyters	Flemish Minister for Finance, Budget, Work, Town and Country Planning and Sport
	CD&V	Joke Schauvliege	Flemish Minister for Environment, Nature and Culture
	SP.A	Pascal Smet	Flemish Minister for Education, Youth, Equal Opportunities and Brussels Affairs

Leterme I/Peeters I (2004-2009)

Government coalition 2007-2009

Government coalition 2004-2007

Following the 2004 election,    CD&V (29 seats)/   N-VA (6 seats),    SP.A/   Sociaal-Liberale Partij (25 seats) and    Open VLD (19 seats) parties formed a coalition.

• From 19 July 2004 to 26 June 2007, the Minister-President of Flanders was Yves Leterme (CD&V), leading a coalition of CD&V-N-VA, VLD-Vivant, and SP.A-Vl.Pro.
• On 26 June 2007, in the aftermath of the 2007 Belgian general elections, Yves Leterme and Inge Vervotte resigned as minister-president and minister in the Flemish Government to take their seats in the Belgian Parliament. On June 28, Kris Peeters was sworn in as new minister-president, taking over the responsibilities of Leterme, and Vanackere and Crevits replaced Vervotte and Peeters as Flemish ministers.
• On 10 October 2007 Fientje Moerman resigned due to the fallout of a hiring scandal; she was replaced as vice-minister-president by Dirk Van Mechelen and as minister by Patricia Ceysens.
• On 22 September 2008 Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) was forced to resign due to pressure by the SP.A-Vl.Pro and Open VLD coalition partners because of his party's no confidence vote in the federal government of Leterme and their lack of trust in further negotiations by the Regions regarding the state reform. His portfolios of Administrative Affairs, Foreign Policy, Media and Tourism were taken over by minister-president Peeters.
• On December 30, 2008 Steven Vanackere resigned to become federal Minister of Civil Service and Public Enterprises. He was replaced in the Flemish Government by Veerle Heeren.

The composition at the end of the legislature:

Peeters I Flemish Government (2007-2009)
Party		Name	Function
	CD&V	Kris Peeters	Minister-President; Minister for Institutional Reform, Ports, Agriculture, Sea Fisheries and Rural Policy
	SP.A	Frank Vandenbroucke	Vice-Minister-President; Minister for Work, Education and Training
	VLD	Dirk van Mechelen	Vice-Minister-President; Minister for Finance and Budget and Town and Country Planning
	SP.A	Bert Anciaux	Minister for Culture, Youth, Sport and Brussels Affairs
	VLD	Marino Keulen	Minister for Home Affairs, Urban Policy, Housing and Civic Integration
	SP.A	Kathleen Van Brempt	Minister for Mobility, Social Economy and Equal Opportunities
	CD&V	Hilde Crevits	Minister for Public Works, Energy, the Environment and Nature
	VLD	Patricia Ceysens	Minister for Economy, Enterprise, Science, Innovation and Foreign Trade
	CD&V	Veerle Heeren	Minister for Welfare, Public Health and Family

Dewael I (1999-2003)/Somers I (2003-2004)

Government coalition 1999-2003

Government coalition 2003-2004

After the regional elections of 1999, a coalition of VLD, SP, Agalev and the VU was formed with Patrick Dewael (VLD) as Minister-President.

After the federal elections of June 2003, Patrick Dewael resigned as Minister-President and went to the federal political level. He was succeeded by Bart Somers as Flemish Minister-President until the end of term in 2004. Due to changes in political parties, the coalition was different:

• Volksunie (VU) fell apart. Instead, Spirit entered the coalition
• the SP was renamed to SP.a
• Agalev was renamed to Groen!

Van den Brande IV (1995-1999)

Government coalition 1995-1999

After the regional elections of 1995 (which were the first direct elections for the Flemish Parliament), a coalition of CVP and SP was formed.

Minister	Name		Party
Minister-President, Foreign Policy, European Affairs, Science and Technology	Luc Van den Brande		CVP
Vice-Minister-President, Education and Public Administration	Luc Van den Bossche		SP
Environment and Labour	Theo Kelchtermans		CVP
Finance, Budget and Health Policy	Wivina Demeester		CVP
Public Works, Transport and Spatial Planning	Eddy Baldewijns		SP
Economy, SME, Agriculture and Media	Eric Van Rompuy		CVP
Home Affairs, Urban Policy and Housing	Leo Peeters		SP
Culture, Family Policy and Welfare	Luc Martens		CVP
Brussels Affairs and Equal en Equal Opportunities Policy	Anne Van Asbroeck		SP

List of Flemish Minister-Presidents

Administration

The Flemish Government cabinet offices are located at the Martyrs' Square in Brussels

The Flemish administration (Dutch: Vlaamse overheid) denotes the Flemish civil service. With the 2006 reform program Better Administrative Policy (Dutch: Beter Bestuurlijk Beleid), the Flemish civil service is designed to make the Flemish public administration more efficient and transparent.

The tasks of the Flemish public administration are now organised in 13 policy areas. Each policy area comprises a department and a number of (semi-) independent government agencies. Only those with their own article are mentioned below.

The 13 policy areas are:

1. Services for the General Government Policy (DAR)
2. Administrative Affairs (BZ)
3. Foreign Affairs (iV)
   • Liaison Agency Flanders-Europe (vleva)
   • Flanders Investment and Trade (FIT)
4. Finance and Budget (FB)
5. Education and Training (OV)
6. Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI)
   • Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT)
   • Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV)
   • National Botanic Garden of Belgium
7. Culture, Youth, Sport and Media (CJSM)
   • Agency for the Promotion of Physical Development, Sport and the Outdoor Recreation (Bloso)
   • Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA)
8. Welfare, Public Health and Family (WVG)
   • Care Inspectorate
9. Agriculture and Fisheries (LV)
10. Work and Social Economy (WSE)
11. Mobility and Public Works (MOW)
    • Flemish Transport Company "De Lijn"
12. Environment, Nature and Energy (LNE)
    • Flemish Energy Agency (VEA)
13. Town and Country Planning, Housing Policy and Immovable Heritage (RWO)
    • Immovable Heritage

Several other institutes, such as the Flemish Opera and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), were not incorporated into the above structure.

Every year, the Minister-President presents the current state of affairs in Flanders and the Government's plans for next year during the September Declaration on the fourth Monday in September.

Budget

The below figures use the 2018 budget as example, which had €44.7 billion in expenses and €42.3 billion in revenue.^[1]

The revenue commes from the following sources:

• 56% – Special financing law: the so-called "shared taxes" and "merged taxes" which the federal government raises through income taxes and VAT and partially transfers to the communities and regions based on a complex formula
• 34% – Fiscal autonomy
  • 18% – Opcentiemen: additional "centimes" to the federal income tax (the height of which can be set by the Flemish Government)
  • 16% – Regional taxes (taxes under the proper authority of the Flemish Government), such as the traffic tax and inheritance tax
• 10% – Other revenues

The expenses are as follows per policy area:

Projects

The Flemish Government owns the rights to Flanders Today, an English-speaking online and print newspaper focused on current affairs in Flanders and Brussels. The project was launched in 2007 by Geert Bourgeois – then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism -, for three main reasons:^[2]

• Facilitating the integration of expats living in the region by informing them of the region's current events.
• Informing international journalists about the region, as most foreign correspondents based in Brussels get their news from the French-speaking press because the majority cannot read Dutch. Flanders Today would act as a counterweight to that side of every story.
• Informing diplomats, investors, potential tourists and others outside of Belgium’s borders about the region.

In May 2017, the Flemish Government announced it wouldn’t be rebidding the Flanders Today project. Both the print and the online version of the paper are to be shut down in October 2017.^[3]

See also

• Flanders
• Flanders in Action
• Flemish Community Commission
• Government of the Brussels-Capital Region
• Government of the French Community
• Politics of Flanders

References

External links

• Flemish government (Dutch: Vlaamse overheid), in English
• Flemish government (Dutch: Vlaamse overheid), in Dutch
• Flemish Parliament (Dutch: Vlaams Parlement)
• Flemish Government (Dutch: Vlaamse Regering)