What does the Flemish Parliament do and what impact do the decisions taken there have on your daily life?

Belgium is a federal country with different levels of political competence. There are a total of 6 governments responsible for various areas of policy in all or some of the country. The Flemish Parliament is unique in that it is responsible for legislation for both the Flemish Region (the 5 Flemish provinces) and the Flemish Community. The Flemish Community is responsible for areas of policy such as education, culture and sport in both the Flemish and Brussels-Capital Regions. Both the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community are normally reffered to as "Vlaanderen" (Flanders). 

The influence of the Flemish parliament and the Flemish government on the lives of the Flemings has increased since the last round of constitutional reform 10 years ago. 

Education is one of the most important areas that is the responsibility of the Flemish Community. The Flemish education budget is almost 20 billion euro per annum, around a third of total expenditure. Teacher shortages and the quality of education have been the source of much debate in the Flemish parliament during the past legislature.

Care and welfare are another important area that fall under the responsibility of the Flemish authorities. The Flemish parliament sets the rules for crèches and other childcare facilities and votes on how much child benefit will be paid to families in our region as well as voting on rules and setting budgets for the provision of care for vulnerable youngsters and people living with a handicap.

Agriculture is another area of policy that is the responsibility of the regions. Earlier this year Flemish farmers took to the streets to protest against the Flemish government’s agricultural policy. The agreement reached between the three parties that make up the Flemish government on nitrogen emissions that attempted to balance environment concerns with the interest of agriculture plunged Jan Jambon’s (nationalist) government into crisis on no fewer than three occasions.  

Othe competences also include culture, labour, housing and integration. Transport is also the responsibility of the Flemish Region. The Flemish public transport company De Lijn is subsidised by the Flemish authorities and the Flemish authorities set the speed limit on roads in our region. 

The Flemish Parliament votes on “decrees”. The decrees (Flemish laws) can either be drafted and tabled by the government or by individual MPs from either the coalition or the opposition parties. At least half of all MPs must vote for a “decree” in order for it to become law.

Since 1995 the Flemish Parliament has had 124 MPs. 118 of these are from the 5 Flemish provinces and 6 are from Brussels. Each Flemish province has a set number of representatives in the Flemish parliament. Antwerp province has the most (33) and Limburg province has the least (16).

Currently 7 political parties have seats in the Flemish parliament. The Flemish nationalist party N-VA has the most, while the far-left party PVDA is the smallest party in the parliament.

The parliament is there to check the work that is being done by the government and if necessary, call ministers to book.  

To a far a greater extent than parliament it is the Flemish Government that takes the decisions. The Flemish Government is made up of 9 ministers, one of whom the Prime Minister (currently, the nationalist Jan Jambon). Policy decisions are taken collectively. Only if the whole government agrees does a proposal become government policy.

In order to become a minister in the Flemish Government you don’t have to have been elected to the Flemish parliament or even have taken part in the elections for the Flemish parliament. For example, the current Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon was elected to the Federal Parliament in 2019, but then became the leader of the Flemish Government.