Structure of the Belgian federal state

Federal Belgium

"Belgium is a federal state, comprised of the communities and the regions." So begins the first article of the Belgian constitution. This means that decision-making powers in Belgium are not centralised, but divided between:

the federal state
three communities
three regions

These three policy levels:

are autonomous
have important powers
are also responsible for international cooperation, including agreeing treaties for these affairs

The federal state

Since Belgium became a federal state in 1993, the federal level has retained a number of powers that concern all Belgians and which are executed over the whole territory. These are: foreign affairs, defence, justice, finance, social security, an important part of public health and internal affairs.

The legislative power is executed:

by the federal parliament which consists of two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate
by the king. The king is relieved of all responsibility. His ministers sign the bills elected by parliament and royal decrees, and bear full responsibility for this.

The executive branch is in the hands of the federal government.

Read more about the federal state (authorities, institutions, etc.)

The communities

The communities are political entities which are based on language. Because Belgium has three official languages, there are also three communities. These are authorised within the language areas:

The Flemish Community is authorised for the Dutch language are and also exercises authority in the bilingual Brussels-Capital area.
The French Community is authorised for the French language area and also exercises authority in the bilingual Brussels-Capital area.
The German Language Community is authorised for the German Language area.

The communities are authorised for all matters that concern the Dutch-speakers, French-speakers and German-speakers. This includes for example: language, culture, the audiovisual sector, education, care for those in need.

Each community has a parliament and a government.

Read more about the communities (authorities, institutions, etc.)

The regions

Belgium is divided into three regions:

the Flemish Region
the Brussels-Capital Region
the Walloon Region

The regions are territorial entities. The Flemish Region territory coincides with the Dutch language area. The Walloon Region territory covers the French and German language areas. The Brussels-Capital Region is authorised in the bilingual Brussels-Capital area. .

The regions manage everything that concerns the interests of Flemish people, people from Brussels and Walloons. They exercise their authorities with regard to the economy, employment, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment and environmental planning in their territory.

The regions are also authorised for international affairs within their authority domains.

Each region has a parliament and a government. In Flanders, the region and community authorities are merged into one government and one parliament.

Read more about the regions (authorities, institutions, etc.)

The federal state of Belgium, a model for Europe?

Implementing shared politics and organising the collaboration between peoples with a different culture is a permanent challenge for federal Belgium. This is also the case for the European Union.

Belgium and Europe

In Belgium it is not only the federal government that takes care of foreign affairs. The regions and communities are also responsible for international relations for their own competences.

Because the European Union also covers a whole series of policy areas that are regionalised in Belgium, the regions and communities are closely involved in the Belgian representation and determining of a stance in a European context.

Belgium can also be represented by both a federal and a regional minister in the Council on the European Union, depending on the distribution of competences within Belgium. A Belgian stance is always determined for each Council in consultation with the federal and/or authorised regional representatives. The exact arrangement for this has been written down in a cooperation agreement. Both the federal and regional ministers will also act as Belgian president during the Belgian presidency of the Council. The regions and communities have agreed a shared allocation of tasks – the so-called rotation arrangement – to determine which federated entity will act as Belgian president for each policy area.

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Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

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