People in Brussels that vote for a Dutch-speaking pollical party in next Sunday’s regional elections will be able to vote for representatives in 4 parliaments rather than 3. In addition to electing their representatives in the Brussels regional parliament, they will elect MPs to the Flemish and federal parliaments and MEPs to the European Parliament. What decisions are taken by Brussels politicians at a regional level and what impact do these decisions have on the everyday lives of people in the capital?
Wat does the Brussels Parliament do and what is the impact of the decisions that are taken there?
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What decisions are taken at the Brussels regional parliament?
Transport and traffic is one of the most important areas of policy that falls under the remit of the Brussels regional authority. In recent years a 30 km/h speed limit has been imposed throughout Brussels with just a few main roads forming an exception to this.
The region has also invested in cycle paths. Traffic plans have been introduced with varying degrees of success in order to reduce the number of cars on the roads. Some of these plans have been revised or even completely repealed after protest from residents. The Brussels regional authority is also responsible for the public transport company MIVB.
The Brussels-Capital Region is also responsible for (social) housing policy. (Un)employment policy also falls under the remit of the region.
Another area of policy that is the responsibility of the region is tourism. Brussels has its own Tourism Minister.
Community Commission
Education and culture fall under the remit of the language community rather than the regions. In the 5 Flemish provinces the region and language community are one and the same, but in Brussels this is not the case. Consequently, in Brussels a commission consisting of all 17 Dutch-speaking MPs was set up to make decisions and vote on policy areas such as culture, education and youth policy. The commission is called the VGC (Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie).
The most import task of the 89 Brussels regional MPs is to discuss and vote on “ordinances” (regional laws). Of the 89 regional MPs 17 are Dutch-speakers and 72 are Francophone. There number of Dutch and French speakers in the parliament remains the same regardless of fluctuations in the number of votes between the two language groups. Candidates stand on monolingual lists and must be of the same language roll of the list they are standing on.
What is the role of the government?
To a much greater extent than parliament, the government determines the policies that will be implemented in our capital city.
The regional government is not elected directly. It is the parties that together have a majority of MPs on both sides of the linguistic divide that form a government. The parties in the regional coalition then decide who will become a minister in the regional government. The current Brussels government consists of a coalition of six parties. They are the Francophone and Flemish socialists, the Francophone and Flemish greens, the Flemish liberals and the Francophone federalist party Défi. PS, Vooruit, Groen, Ecolo, Open VLD and Défi. The regional first minister is the Francophone socialist Rudi Vervoort. In addition to the first minister there are four minister (2 Dutch-speakers and 2 Francophones) and three secretaries of state (1 Dutch-speaker and 2 Francophones).
At the head is the Brussels first minister. For more than 10 years that has been Rudi Vervoort, who is now completing his third legislature. Mr Vervoort's party, the Francophone socialists, has been part of the government since the creation of the Brussels Capital Region in 1989.