CoR - REGPEX Profile - the Brussels Parliament

The Brussels-Capital Region Parliament (Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Parlement) was established in 1989.

Numberof Members of Parliament
89

Length of the parliamentary mandate
Five years.

Mode of selection of the Members of Parliament
Direct election. For further information, click here (EN).

Population included in the constituency of the regional parliament
1.119.088 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011).

Competences(legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas wherethe regional parliament is active

Legislative:
Legislative competences include space planning; environment and water policy; rural renovation and nature conservation; housing; agriculture; economic affairs; energy policy; subordinated powers (municipalities, inter-municipal companies and public social assistance centers); employment; public works and transportation; scientific research (in the framework of the regional competences). Legal basis: Articles 39 and 134 of the Belgian Constitution and Article 6, §1 of the Special Act of 8 August 1980 on Institutional Reform. For further information, see here (FR).

Non-legislative:
Election of the members of the Regional Government (Article 34 of the Special Act of 12 January 1989 on Brussels’ institutions); control of the Regional Government’s actions (Article 36 of the Special Act); ratification of treaties and cooperation agreements concluded by the Regional Executive (Article 92 bis of the Special Act of 8 August 1980 on Institutional Reform). For further information, see here (FR).

List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
There are seven Permanent Committees:

Committee on Finances, Budget, Public Function, External Relations and General Affairs;
Committee on Infrastructure, Public Works and Communications;
Committee on Space Planning, Urbanism and Land Policy;
Committee on Housing and Urban Renovation;
Committee on Environment, Conservation of Nature, Water and Energy Policy ;
Committee on Internal Affairs, Local Powers and Competences of Agglomerations;
Committee on Economic Affairs, Employment and Scientific Research.

Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
There is no specific committee in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity. According to the procedure currently under preparation, the subsidiarity check will be conducted by one of the seven permanent committees depending on the subject-matter concerned.

Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
One staff member is in charge of European Affairs.

Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic): The Parliament has never performed subsidiarity checks, except on three occasions (in the area of environment and employment) in 2007 and 2008, at the initiative of the Committee of the Regions. The Parliament has yet to organise a procedure for conducting subsidiarity checks.

Procedure: The procedure, which is under preparation, will organise a selective check. The selection will be guided by the competences of the Region of Brussels-Capital and the interests expressed by the Members of Parliament. The procedure will normally establish a 7-week time limit for the subsidiarity check. The organ in charge would either be a committee of the Parliament or, alternatively, the Parliament itself (meeting in plenary assembly).

Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
Since the Parliament does not yet conduct subsidiarity checks, there is no cooperation/coordination at the regional level. When the Parliament will conduct such checks, the support of the Regional Executive will probably be necessary.

Cooperation/coordinationat 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/coordinationat the cross-regional level
See the answer to the previous point.

Cooperation/coordinationat the EU level
The Parliament is a member of CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies). Moreover, the Parliament has contacts with the Committee of the Regions. Otherwise, there is no direct cooperation/coordination at the EU level.

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