The Parliament of the German-speaking Community in Belgium (Parlament der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft) was established on 13 October 1973. It was originally named 'the Council of the Cultural Community', then changed to the 'Council of the German-speaking Community' in 1983, and to the 'Parliament of the German-speaking Community' in 2004.
Number of Members of Parliament
25 Members of Parliament and 11 delegated advisors. Delegated advisors are Members of other parliaments (i.e. the European Parliament, the Belgian House of Representatives, the Belgian Senate – only directly elected Senators, the Walloon Parliament and the Provincial Council) who have elected their domicile in the German-speaking Community for more than six months and who have taken the oath exclusively or first in German. They may participate to the discussions of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community in Belgium but have no right of initiative, no right of control and no voting powers.
Length of the parliamentary mandate
Five years.
Mode of selection of the Members of Parliament
Direct election. For further information, see here (DE).
Population included in the constituency of the regional parliament
75.716 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011).
- Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
- List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
- Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
- Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
- Subsidiarity check
- Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
- Cooperation/coordination at the central level
- Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level
- Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative:
Cultural affairs (for example arts, language preservation, libraries, sport, tourism); education; personal matters (family, health and social activities); intra-Belgian, Euro-regional, European and international affairs (including agreements and treaties); use of languages in education. Legal Bases: Article 130 of the Belgian Constitution and Article 4 of the Act of 31 December 1983, referring to Articles 4 and 5 of the Special Act of 8 August 1980 on Institutional Reform.
Furthermore, through the transfer of competences by the Walloon Region pursuant to Article 139 of the Belgian Constitution, the Parliament of the German-speaking Community may also legislate in the following areas: protection of monuments, landscape, excavations and funerals; employment; control of municipalities; church fabrics (2005). For further information, see here (EN).
Non-legislative:
Control of and cooperation with the Regional Executive; representation of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community in various bodies (for example in Benelux, IPR (Interregional Parliamentary Council), CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies), Conference of nine Presidents).
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
The principal committees within the parliament are:
- Committee I for General Policy, Local Authorities, Petitions, Public Funds and Cooperation;
- Committee II for Culture;
- Committee III for School-Teaching, Education and Employment;
- Committee IV for Health and Social Affairs.
For further information, see here (EN).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
Committee I is in charge of European Affairs, including subsidiarity checks.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
There are three legal advisors within the Parliament (on a total of 31 staff members). One of these legal advisors will – in addition to other tasks which include external relations – be in charge of subsidiarity monitoring.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): Selective.
Procedure: The procedure for subsidiarity monitoring is applicable since October 2012. The Belgian Senate transfers all draft EU legislative acts to the regional parliaments. A legal advisor analyses these documents through a comparative examination within the networks of IPEX (Inter-parliamentary EU information exchange platform) and the Committee of the Regions. A systematic check is not organised because this would be too time-consuming and would require the involvement of too many staff members. Committee I of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community is in charge of the subsidiarity check. The procedure has to respect a strict time-table:
- day 1-14: the legal advisor or representative establishes a selection of relevant documents for the President of the Parliament. On this basis, the legal advisor writes a first opinion and the President of the Parliament (Chairman of Committee I) puts the item on the agenda;
- day 1-28: if necessary (in light of the subject-matter concerned), Committee I asks another committee of the Parliament to communicate an opinion on the EU draft legislative act and sets a deadline for the transmission of the opinion;
- until day 42: Committee I examines both the EU draft legislative act and the opinion and issues a reasoned opinion in case of infringement of the subsidiarity principle;
- until day 56: adoption of the reasoned opinion by the Parliament. If this is not possible due to time constraints, Committee I may itself adopt the opinion as an official decision of the parliament;
- until day 56: the reasoned opinion is sent to the Belgian institutions and is transferred through the Conference of Presidents of Parliaments to the European institutions. Following a phase of implementation and evaluation, the procedure will be registered in the rules of procedure of the Parliament.
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
The Parliament receives most information relating to European affairs from the Government of the German-speaking Community. However, there is no concrete cooperation with the Government on questions relating to subsidiarity monitoring.
Cooperation/coordination at the central level
In 2008, the Belgian parliamentary assemblies (at federal, regional and community level) drafted an inter-parliamentary cooperation agreement organising the participation of the regional and community parliaments in the application of the subsidiarity scrutiny mechanism. This agreement has been blocked because of persisting legal and political difficulties, and accordingly, has not yet entered into force. However, the relevant institutions generally apply it de facto in concrete situations. The regional parliaments automatically receive all legislative proposals and consultation documents of the European Commission through the Senate, with no selection or priority-setting. Each parliament can separately and autonomously examine whether the legislative proposal respects the principle of subsidiarity. A system of vote distribution is established, i.e., the two Belgian subsidiarity votes are divided between the federal and the regional levels. There is no need for a consensus on a 'level basis' to make use of the subsidiarity vote. As soon as one chamber (at the federal level) considers a legislative proposal to be in breach of the subsidiarity principle, at least one subsidiarity vote is 'activated'. Furthermore, if (at least) one parliament at the regional/community level has the same opinion, the second subsidiarity vote is also used. All reasoned opinions of the seven parliaments, together with the subsidiarity votes, are sent to the European Commission on behalf of the Belgian parliamentary system, making it clear which opinion has been given by which parliament. For the so-called exclusive legislative proposals (concerning exclusively federal or regional/community competences), the competent level controls the two Belgian subsidiarity votes. Once again, no consensus is needed; it is enough for two regional/community parliaments with a different linguistic status (e.g. the Flemish Parliament (Dutch speaking) and the Walloon Parliament (French speaking)) to consider that a proposal infringes the principle of subsidiarity, to trigger the two Belgian subsidiarity votes in the Early Warning System.
Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level
See answer to the previous point. Moreover, pursuant to an agreement with the German Land Rheinland-Pfalz, the representation of the Land Rheinland-Pfalz at the Federal State and at the EU in Brussels also transmits a weekly report to the Parliament of the German-speaking Community. This report contains timely information on EU issues and on reasoned opinions that have been submitted.
Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
See the answer to the previous point. Moreover, the Parliament participates in CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies).
