THE GERMAN-SPEAKING COMMUNITY AND ITS PARLIAMENT IMPRESSUM

Legally liable publisher: Stephan Thomas, Secretary general Concept and text: Information Department of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community Design: Freddy Betsch Photos: Harald Lamberty Stephan Offermann Fotalia Printing: Parliament of the German-speaking Community © Parliament of the German-speaking Community, 2016 Platz des Parlaments 1 B-4700 Tel.: +32 (0)87/31 84 00 Fax: +32 (0)87/31 84 01 [email protected] www.pdg.be

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Parliament of the German-speaking Community ...... 4

The German-speaking Community ...... 7

Key historical dates ...... 10

Institutional development milestones ...... 13

The German-speaking Community within the Belgian State structure ...... 19

The Parliament of the German-speaking Community - a legislative institution ...... 25

How does a decree come into being? ...... 29

Competences ...... 30

The Government: the executive power ...... 36

The Community’s finances ...... 38

Cooperation and conflict settlement ...... 41

Autonomy and the future outlook ...... 45

Selected further reading...... 46

3 THE PARLIAMENT OF THE GERMAN-SPEAKING COMMUNITY

The Parliament of the German-spea- • supervision and financing of munici- king Community is the legislative power palities. of this Community in . The Ger- The Parliament of the German-spea- man-speaking Community is officially king Community exercises its legisla- recognized by Article 2 of the Belgian tive powers by decree (“Dekret”). Constitution. Its legal status is defined, inter alia, by Articles 38, 115, 116, 121, 130, Even if the German-speaking Com- 139 and 176 of the Constitution. munity makes up only a small minority of the Belgian population (0.7%), its Constitutionally the German-speaking Parliament is on an almost equal foo- Community is a legislative institution in ting with the Parliament of the French- matters specific to the Community speaking Community and the Flemish (Article 130 of the Constitution), as Parliament. It can be compared with well as to regional matters that have the Länder parliaments in federal been transferred to the Community states like or Austria, even if under Article 139 of the Constitution. these Länder’s powers are more signi- These are: ficant. • cultural matters, • people-related matters, i.e. family, The Parliament of the German-spea- health and social affairs, king Community was officially laun- • inter-community and international ched on 30 January 1984, under its cooperation former name of the “Council of the • education and training German-speaking Community”. This • monument and landscape protec- was the successor institution to the tion and excavations Council of the German Cultural Com- • employment policy munity, an initial decision-making forum,

4 5 The Plenary hall in the new building

in which the desire for autonomy of munity and its Parliament. Obviously the area was deba- we first need to give some details as ted and the first decisions in cultural to the size, structure and history of matters were made. the German language area. We will also attempt to explain how the Ger- This leaflet aims to provide the reader man-speaking Community is incor- with a basic knowledge of the auto- porated into the structures of the Bel- nomy of the German-speaking Com- gian federal state.

6 THE GERMAN-SPEAKING COMMUNITY

The German-speaking Community of trative matters are made by the fede- Belgium is located in the eastern part ral state and may not be taken indepen- of the country. It shares borders with dently by the German-speaking Com- Germany, the and Luxem- munity. burg. The German-speaking Commu- The territory of the German-speaking nity counts around 77.000 inhabitants. Community is identical with the Ger- Most are German-speaking Belgians, man language region recognized in but this number also includes Walloon, article 4 of the Constitution. This area’s Flemish and foreign citizens. size is 854 km² and it covers the mu- The German-speaking Community is nicipalities of , Büllingen, Burg- officially recognized by Article 2 of the Reuland, Bütgenbach, Eupen, , Constitution. Articles 115, 121 and 130 of , and St. Vith. the Constitution give it approximately The German-speaking Community con- the same legal status as the French sists in fact of two differently structu- and Flemish Communities; i.e. it has red sub-areas: the smaller, but more more or less the same degree of densely populated area around Eupen autonomy and powers, and the insti- in the north, and the Belgian in tutions for expressing its individuality the south. These two areas are sepa- are qualitatively equal. rated by the (in German: The administrative, educational and Hohes Venn), a moorland area exten- judicial language in the German-spea- ding partly over the municipality of king area is German. French-speakers Weismes ( region). are, however, granted special rights. Several industrial companies of super- This is the reason why decisions con- regional importance are located in and cerning the language used in adminis- around Eupen.

7 Born

The area lies close to major internatio- days, tourism is developing into a nal traffic routes. The city of Eupen major economic factor in this at- (18,000 inhabitants), an old cloth-ma- tractive, but structurally weak region. king city with a long historical tradi- tion, is the seat of the Parliament of St. Vith is the centre of the southern the German-speaking Community, its municipalities, especially when it Government and the BRF (“Belgian comes to schools and shops. This small Radio and TV Centre of the German- city was completely destroyed during speaking Community”). World War II but was later rebuilt. The surrounding municipalities are With its lake and the Worriken tourist more rural, though ore was mined centre, Bütgenbach has developed in industrially for centuries in Kelmis, recent years into a major vacation and which was in the 19th century the lar- water sports centre for visitors coming gest zinc mining area in Europe. from everywhere. The Belgian Eifel consists of extensive woodland and grazing. Agriculture is The German-speaking Community has no longer an important source of in- an extraordinary rich cultural life and come contrary to earlier years. Nowa- boasts a high level of artistic creativity.

8 Kelmis Lontzen Raeren

Eupen

Bütgenbach Büllingen

Amel

St.Vith

Burg Reuland

9 HISTORICAL MILESTONES

◀ Until 1794 1794 the northern area (Eupen region) belonged mainly to the Denkmalschutzplakette Duchy of , governed in perso- nal union with Brabant since the battle of Worringen (1288). The southern part (Belgian Eifel) belonged mostly to the Duchy of Luxembourg, except for Man- derfeld-Schönberg, which was part of the Electorate of Trier. German dialects were spoken in both the northern and southern parts: Lower Franconian, Rhi- nish Franconian and Mosel Franconian. ◀ 1794-1795: The French revolutiona- ries conquered the Austrian Low Coun- tries (including Limburg and Luxem- bourg), the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the Abbey of -Malmedy. The Eupen area and the Eifel were pla- ced in the department of , with the exception of Manderfeld-Schön- berg, which now belonged to the Saar department. ◀ 1815: With the defeat of the map of Europe was redrawn at the . Eupen and its area,

10 the Eifel and part of the former abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy were included in “Büchel”-tower St.Vith the , now Prussian (from 1830 Prussian province of the Rhine), as were the districts of Eupen and Malmedy. Neutral-Moresnet (Kelmis) remained a curious exception, being placed under dual Prussian-Dutch (after 1830 Prus- sian-Belgian) government, owning to its rich zinc deposits. ◀ 1914-1918: During the First World War the inhabitants of Eupen and Mal- medy fought for the German Reich. 766 persons were reported as dead or missing in the district of Eupen and 1082 persons in the district of Mal- medy. ◀ 1919-1920: Under the Treaty of Ver- sailles, Neutral-Moresnet and - after a disputed referendum - the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium. turn of Eupen-Malmedy to Germany in ◀ Between 1920-1925 1925 the for- exchange for 200 million gold marks. mer German districts were subject to Negotiations fail because of the ener- the authoritarian transitional regime getic objection of France. of Lieutenant-General Baltia and divi- ◀ ded into the three judicial cantons of 1927 Founding of the “Grenz-Echo” Eupen, Malmedy and St. Vith. A strong newspaper as a “pro-Belgian” counter- revisionistic movement disputed the part to the local “pro-German” press. validity the Versailles treaty, which was The Grenz-Echo is today Belgium’s felt to have been forcibly imposed. only German-language daily. ◀ October 1925: In the Locarno Trea- ◀ 1933: The National Socialists under ties Germany renounced any forceful Adolf Hitler come to power in Ger- change of its western border. Attempts many. The socialists around Marc So- to revise the border by negotiation merhausen abandon their demands were not excluded. for revision from 1933 onwards. The re- ◀ 1. January 1926: The Constitution visionistic movement in Eupen-Mal- medy is drawn into the wake of the and the Belgian laws come into force Nazi propaganda machine, and is or- in the “new Belgian” territories. ganized from 1936 in the effectively ◀ 1925-1926 Secret negotiations bet- Nazi-controlled “Heimattreue Front”. ween Belgium and Germany for a re- Democratic powers warn against the

11 Nazi ideology. Deep rifts appear bet- Questions of war reparations and in ween the pro-Belgian and pro-German particular the “involuntary soldier parts of the population. question” dominate post-war local po- litics for decades. The latter question ◀ 10. May 1940: German troops invade was resolved only in 1989. neutral Belgium. ◀ 1956: In the Belgian-German “Sep- ◀ 18. May 1940: By decree of the Füh- tember Treaties”, the Federal Republic rer, Eupen-Malmedy and other old Bel- of Germany stresses the invalidity in gian border areas are incorporated into international law of the 1940 annexa- the German Reich. Large parts of the tion of Eupen-Malmedy. They agree population adapt to the Nazi regime, upon a border correction, a Belgian- others join the resistance; the majority German cultural agreement and com- of the young men are conscripted, pensation payments. (The cultural others go into hiding. 3,200 out of the agreement was signed in 1958). This 8,700 men conscripted into the Wehr- marks the start of a period of Belgian- macht die at the front, go missing or die German reconciliation and coopera- in prison camps. tion.

◀ End 1944: St. Vith and numerous The German-speaking population also Eifel villages are destroyed during the benefits from the relaxation of ten- . sions between the former wartime enemies. The process of European uni- ◀ 8. May 1945: Armistice. The ensuing fication also contributes to a normali- denazification is considered as exag- zation of relations between the two geratedly hard and unjustified by the states. Belgian objections to recog- population, as Belgium had not reac- nition of linguistic and cultural rights ted appropriately to Germany’s unila- and institutional independence for the teral annexation of the area. German-speaking Community die down.

12 INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT MILESTONES

◀ 1962-1963: The laws on language • Three regions are created: the Wal- use in administrative matters, coordi- loon, Flemish and Brussels regions. nated by the Royal Decree of 18 July ◀ 1966, divide Belgium into four linguistic 23. October 1973: The first session areas. The introduction of the territo- of the Council of the German Cultural rial principle becomes a cornerstone Community takes place. for the subsequent federalization of ◀ 10. March 1974: The first direct elec- the state. Article 5 of the law lists the tions to the Council of the German 25 municipalities (since 1976 nine large Cultural Community are held. municipalities) making up the German language area. 1980-1983: Second major reform of 1968-1971: state First major reform of state • The Constitution is amended: The • The division of Belgium into four lan- German-speaking Community, the guage areas is anchored in the Con- Flemish Community and the French stitution. Community replace the German Cul- • Three cultural communities (Ger- tural Community, the Dutch Cultural man, French and Dutch) are created. Community and the French Cultural Community. • Three cultural councils are set up, though the Council of the German • A new article in the Constitution on Cultural Community receives only the German-speaking Community limited powers in cultural matters. (then Article 59ter) gives the Com-

13 munity powers of decree in cultural 1988-1990: and people-related matters and in inter-community and international Third major reform of relations. state • Alongside the Council there is now Competence for education is transfer- also an Executive (government) of red to the Communities. The article of the German-speaking Community, the Constitution concerning the Ger- elected by the Council. man-speaking Community is amended on 20 June 1989. With the passing of ◀ 31. December 1983: The law on In- the corresponding implementing law stitutional Reforms for the German- on 18 July 1990 the financial allocations speaking Community is signed by the from the Federal State to the Commu- King. nity are tripled.

◀ 30.January 1984: The newly crea- ◀ 23. October 1991: The text of the ted Council of the German-speaking Constitution in German language Community is instituted and the first becomes official and legally binding community government is elected. alongside the French and Dutch texts.

Johann Weynand and Willy Schyns, founding fathers of the autonomy

14 1993-1994: the public social welfare centres. The financing system of the German-spea- Fourth major reform of king Community is also adapted. state The German language area forms its In article 1 of the Constitution, Belgium own electoral district for the Euro- is defined as a “Federal State, con- pean elections and has sent its own sisting of the Communities and the representative to the European Parlia- Regions”. The Belgian parliamentary ment since 1994. system with two equal chambers is Since the 1995 elections, the Parlia- replaced by a differentiated system, in ment of the German-speaking Com- which the Chamber of Deputies (lower munity has sent one member to the house) concentrates on the usual par- reformed 71 member Belgian Senate. liamentary tasks (passing of legislation and the budget, control of the federal ◀ 1. January 1994: Exercise of regio- government), with the senate functio- nal powers for protection of monu- ning primarily as a think tank and a ments and landscapes (excluding exca- place of meeting for the different con- vations) is transferred from the Wal- stituent parts of the Belgian state. loon Region to the German-speaking Community. The and Flemings decide in direct elections about the composition ◀ 20. May 1997: Article 130 of the of their respective parliaments, the Constitution is extended with a 5th Walloon Regional Council and the item, which states that the Council of the German-speaking Community will Flemish Council, a right that Brussels settle language use in education by inhabitants already had for their Re- decree. In other words this power is gional Council since 1989, and the transferred from the federal state to country’s German-speakers for the the German-speaking Community. Council of the German Cultural Com- munity/ Council of the German-spea- ◀ 1. January 2000: Exercise of regio- king Community since 1974. nal powers in employment policy and excavations is transferred from the In addition the community and regio- Walloon Region to the German-spea- nal councils, with the exception of king Community. the Brussels Regional Council and the Council of the German-speaking Com- munity, receive a certain degree of 2001: self-determination or “constitutive Fifth major reform of state autonomy”. The province of Brabant is With this reform of state the munici- split into a Flemish and a Walloon part, palities receive greater financial re- so that Belgium now consists of ten sources from the Federal State (so- provinces. called “refinancing”). The regions are The Law of 16 July 1993 extends the granted greater tax autonomy, enab- powers of the German-speaking Com- ling them to independently lower or munity to basic legislation concerning raise certain taxes.

15 Governement building in Eupen

Agriculture, high sea fishing and fo- ◀ Following an amendment to the Con- reign trade are transferred, with par- stitution on 9. July 2004, the former tial exceptions, from the federal state regional and community councils are to the regions. In addition the regions now officially referred to as “parlia- become responsible for the organiza- ments”. tion of municipalities and provinces. ◀ Since 1. January 2005 the German- For example they can now decide in- speaking Community exercises a further dependently whether or not mayors key regional power: the supervision should be directly elected. and financing of municipalities. One intention of the reform is to trans- fer development cooperation from 1 January 2004 to the regions and 2014: communities in the matters they are Sixth major reform of competent for (until now except the state German-speaking Community). Like the other communities the Ger- The sixth reform of the Belgian State man-speaking Community can now has been recently voted in the federal also develop its own rules for control- parliament. The institutional agree- ling election expenditures, govern- ment on the sixth State reform, entit- ment communication and complemen- led ‘A more efficient federal State and tary party financing. more autonomous entities’, provides for substantial State reform that will The government of the German-spea- take place over several stages. king Community can from now on con- sist of three to five members, with at The agreement has in fact an im- least one woman or one man. portant duality. On the one hand, it

16 EU in Brussels

strengthens the regions, but on the The German-speaking community also other hand the federal state should received a component it had been co- stay strong enough to pay its debts veting for a long time, namely the and finance social security. Some re- granting of constitutive autonomy, sponsibilities were entirely transferred which implies the possibility to control to the regions, while others are more the mode of operation of its own fragmented. The transfer of family institutions (the Parliament and the allowances, elderly care and work are Government). the most noticeable.

17 18 THE GERMAN-SPEAKING COMMUNITY WITHIN THE BELGIAN STATE STRUCTURE

To enable readers to understand the The Federal State continues to retain position of the German-speaking Com- responsibility for the central organisa- munity within the Belgian state sys- tion of the judicial system, financial tem, some explanations of the most policy, internal security, foreign policy, commonly-used concepts of Belgian defence and social security. The legis- constitutional law will be provided, na- lative power of the Federal State is now mely language areas, communities and basically exercised by the Chamber of regions. The understanding of these Deputies and the King only – in parti- structures is rendered more difficult cular cases the Senate might be invol- by the fact that the communities, re- ved (see Art.74-78 of the Constitution). gions and language areas are not geo- The Senate acquired a new function graphically identical. through the last reform of the Consti- tution: reforming the Constitution, in- ternational relations, relations between the Federal State on one hand and the Federal State and communities and regions on the other, subordinated authorities as well as the right of investigation. In addition, the Senate has simultaneously Many key powers previously exercised become a sort of think tank when it by the central state have been transfer- comes to the development of the red to the communities and regions country. The executive power is exerci- since the federalization of Belgium in sed by the King and his ministers. the early 1970s. A series of powers have also been transferred to the European Since the fourth reform of state the Union in the process of the European Federal State has been divided into 10 unification. provinces and 589 municipalities. The

19 The language areas and the Communities The territory of the German-speaking Community corresponds with the German language area; the French Community is competend for the French language area and the French-speaking institutions in Brussels; the Flemish Community is competent for the area and the Flemish institutions in Brussels.

French language area

German language area

Dutch language area

Bilingual area Brussels-Capital

20 Brussels-Capital administrative area • the French language area (), has a special status; in this case, the • the Dutch-speaking language area provincial powers are not exercised by (Flanders) and the usual provincial bodies, but have • the bilingual Brussels-Capital area. been transferred to several bodies (Brussels Regional Parliament, Com- The language of each language area is munity Commissions etc.). usually used in administrational, edu- cational and court matters. In Brussels The provinces and municipalities have French and Dutch are administratively without exception powers covering equal. In municipalities with protected everything of provincial or municipality language minorities, special rights interest. However, unlike the Commu- (“facilities”) are introduced for these nities and Regions, they are subordina- ted authorities, under the supervision of superordinated bodies.

The German language region in Belgium: • consists of nine (aggregated) muni- cipalities; • has its own autonomous legal entity for the exercise of community powers: the German-speaking community; • is part of the Walloon Region for re- gional matters. The bodies of the German-speaking Community none- theless exercise certain regional powers by way of application of Ar- ticle 139 of the Constitution; • is part of the Province of Liège for provincial matters.

Language areas Article 4 of the Constitution divides Belgium into four language areas: • the German language area (the nine municipalities of Amel, Büllingen, Burg-Reuland, Bütgenbach, Eupen, Kelmis, Lontzen, Raeren and St.Vith),

Representation office, Rue Jordaens 34,21 Brussels The Regions:

The Walloon region

The Flemish region

The Region of Brussels-Capital

The German-speaking municipalities are part of the Walloon region.

22 minorities; in the nine municipalities of Particularly complex is the exercise of the German language area special community powers in the bilingual rights exist for French-speakers. Brussels Region, where a French Com- munity Commission, a Flemish Com- munity Commission and a Joint Com- munity Commission each exercise their Communities respective powers. Article 2 of the Constitution states that Belgium consists of three com- munities: • the German-speaking Community, Regions • the Flemish Community and • the French Community. Alongside the Communities there is another layer of independent legal The powers of Belgium’s three Com- entities which exercise major powers. munities are more or less identical These are the regions(Article 3 of the (cultural matters, people-related mat- Constitution): ters, education, inter-community and • the Walloon Region international cooperation). • the Flemish Region and The powers of the German-speaking Community are exercised by the Par- • the Brussels Region liament and by the Government of the The powers of the regions are funda- German-speaking Community, those mentally different from those of the of the French Community by the Par- communities, covering liament and by the Government of the French-speaking Community. For finan- • urban and rural planning cial reasons, however, the French Com- • environment and water policy, munity (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles) • restructuring of rural areas and na- has transferred the exercise of part of ture preservation, its powers to the Walloon Region. • housing, The powers of the Flemish Community are exercised by the Flemish Parlia- • agricultural policy, ment and the Flemish Government, • parts of economic policy and foreign which also exercise the powers of the trade, Flemish Region. Whilst the Flemish • parts of energy policy, Parliament and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community are di- • organization and supervision of sub- rectly elected, the Parliament of the ordinated authorities (municipalities French Community consists of the and provinces), elected representatives of the Wal- • employment policy, loon Regional Parliament and a portion of the French-speaking members of • public works and traffic and the Brussels Regional Parliament. • powers of taxation.

23 The powers of the Walloon Region and the Flemish Region are exercised, to- the Brussels-Capital Region are each gether with those of the Flemish Com- exercised by a regional parliament and munity, by the Flemish Parliament and a regional government. The powers of the Flemish Government.

24 THE PARLIAMENT OF THE GERMAN-SPEAKING COMMUNITY – A LEGISLATIVE BODY

Functions of Parliament • control of government and administration: The Parliament of the German-spea- The Parliament of the German-spea- king Community exercises all the tra- king Community exercises its con- ditional functions of a parliament: trolling function mainly by means of oral questions and interpellations • formation of a government: (questions to the government) from The Parliament of the German-spea- its members during committee and king Community elects the govern- plenary sessions. Members of parlia- ment of the German-speaking Com- ment may also pose written ques- munity. tions, which are then published in an official document along with the re- plies of the competent ministers. • election of a senator: The Parliament of the German-spea- • issuing decrees and budget: king Community sends one of its Decrees of the Parliament of the members to the Belgian Senate. German-speaking Community have force of law in the German language • designation of representatives: area. The annual community budget and annual accounts are also appro- The Parliament designates repre- ved by decree. sentatives into inner-Belgian (control commission for the use of language, • discussion of all politically Culture pact committee) and inter- relevant questions: national organisations (Benelux, Grea- All matters of topical or fundamental ter Region). importance for the German-spea-

25 king Community may be brought up themselves in the form of a petition in the Parliament of the German- to the Parliament of the German- speaking Community, even if Parlia- speaking Community. ment lacks direct decision-making powers. • controlling elections results and go- vernment communications as well as • expression of public opinions establishing rules for complemen- and interests: tary party financing. Differences of opinion are the basis of every democratic discussion and decision-making process. The diffe- rent political trends in the German- speaking Community are expressed Composition of by the different parties represented Parliament in Parliament. Moreover, direct dialog with the citizens is also being stron- The Parliament of the German-spea- gly encouraged. In addition all the king Community consists of 25 directly- citizens are entitled to express elected members, elected every five

Plenary session in the Parliament

26 years at the same time as the Euro- Organization of pean elections. Eligible to vote and eligible to be elected are all Belgian Parliament citizens aged 18 and over, residing in The Parliament of the German-spea- the German language area and in full king Community adopts its decrees, possession of their political rights. positions and opinions during the

Members of the European Parliament, plenary sessions. These decisions are directly elected federal deputies, prepared in the parliamentary commit- members of the Walloon Regional Par- tees, to which each party sends its re- liament and provincial councillors, who presentatives. live in the German-speaking area and have sworn their oath to the Constitu- Parliamentary work is planned and or- tion in the German language, attend ganized in the bureau, which is chaired the sessions of the Parliament of the by the President of Parliament. The German-speaking Community ex offi- President also chairs the plenary ses- cio on an advisory basis, i.e. without sions and represents the Parliament to any right of initiative and voting rights. the outside world. Parliamentary work

27 Parliament library

is undertaken according to the internal of law and decree texts, taking care of rules of procedure which the Parlia- visitors, public relations work, manage- ment of the German-speaking Com- ment of a specialized library, etc. munity has adopted for itself.

In order to better exercise their duties, members may join together in political groups. To be recognized as such a po- litical group must have at least three elected members of Parliament. The Parliament of the German-speaking Community provides all political groups with an office infrastructure and staff funding.

The Parliament of the German-spea- king Community has a staff of around 35 persons, who carry out a wide range of tasks under the leadership of the Secretary-General: preparation and post-working of plenary, bureau and committee sessions, recording, prin- ting and sending out of parliamentary documents and minutes of plenary sessions (detailed reports), archiving

28 HOW DOES A DECREE COME ABOUT?

The Parliament of the German-speaking Community is the legislative power of the German-speaking Community. It exercises its power by decree. Decrees are therefore laws which are valid solely within the area of the German-speaking Com- munity.

DECREE PROPOSAL DRAFT DECREE

One or more members The Government presents present the decree proposal the draft decree together with to the Parliament.. the report of the Council of State:

The plenary meeting decides whether the document will be taken into consideration.

The appropriate committee examines the document: discussion, hearings, amendment proposals, votes, adoption of the committee report.

The plenary meeting of the Parliament examines the document: committee report; general discussion, voting of each article and the amendment proposals, voting of the document (which has possibly been amended) as a whole.

The Government approves the decree, promulgates it and publishes it in the State official Journal („Belgisches Staatsblatt“).

The decree comes into force ten days after its publication, unless the text of the decree gives another date.

The Government implements the decree.

29 COMPETENCES

The Parliament of the German-spea- ral matters, people-related matters king Community is authorized to and educational matters. establish the community's areas of These competences are listed in Arti- competence by decree. cle 130 of the Constitution and in the The German-speaking Community is Law of 31 December 1983 on institutio- responsible essentially for community nal reforms for the German-speaking matters, which break down into cultu- Community. This law has been amen-

Sports- and recreation center St.Vith

30 Media-center Eupen

ded several times. Here is a list of the • physical education, sport and out- most important competences. door-life, • leisure activities, • preschool education at the nursery Cultural matters school, • protection and defense of the lan- • further education, guage, • art education, • promoting the training of resear- • intellectual, moral and social educa- chers, tion, • fine arts (literature, music, theatre, • the support of social-climbing, ballet, film etc.) • vocational retraining and training, • cultural heritage, museums and other • a dual training system, in which a scientific-cultural institutions, practical training at a workplace is • libraries, discotheques and similar combined with an education at a services, training institution. • radio and television as well as the support for the written press, • the content-related and technical- People-related matters related aspects of the audiovisual This covers family, social and health and auditive media matters, caring for the elderly and • youth policy, the integration of foreigners. • the constant advanced training and These matters are sub-divided into the cultural activities, two areas:

31 1. health policy matters: 2. the assistance to individuals: - care policy inside and outside of - family policy including all forms of care institutions, including the help and assistance for families funding of construction, renova- and children, tion and maintenance works of - payment of family allowances the hospitals as well as the sub- (child benefits, baby bonus and sidy for heavy medical equip- adoption bonus), ment, - social assistance policy including - mental health care taking place in the key legislation referring to other institutions than hospitals, public welfare centers, - nursing services in retirement - admission and integration policy homes, including individual geria- for immigrants, trics services, - nursing services in individual and - the disability policy including pro- specialized rehabilitation and treat- fessional training, retraining and ment services, advanced training of disabled people as well as mobility aids, - long term care, - senior citizen policy, - the organization of primary care and the support the professions - youth protection, including social in the primary care sector, and judicial protection as well as measures for young offenders, - the work permit and contingent of health care professions, - social help for prisoners regarding - health education as well as the their social rehabilitation, activities and services in the field - the organization, the working me- of preventive medicine. thod and the tasks of the houses of justice (a place where victims can go for counselling and for support) and the office in charge of the execution and follow-up of e-monitoring, - primary legal assistance, - the checking of films with regard to the access to the cinemas of under-aged children.

Education Under the fundamental principles enshrined in Article 24 of the Consti- tution, the German-speaking Commu- nity is responsible for education at

32 every level: kindergartens, primary of staff and education establishments schools, secondary schools, special are equal before the law or decree. schools, further and higher education Alongside these constitutional princi- establishments, universities. This com- ples the federal state power’s residual petence is extensive and includes te- powers are limited to establishing the achers’ salaries, study grants, school compulsory education length, the buildings and boarding schools, lesson minimum conditions for awarding a content, school transport, length of school diploma and teachers' pensions. holidays, etc. Since the amendment of Article 130 of the Constitution on 20 May 1997 the German-speaking Community has also Inter-community and been responsible for language use in international cooperation education. Article 24 of the Constitution states The Parliament of the German-spea- that everyone has a fundamental right king Community governs by decree in- tercommunity and international coope- to education. Parents are also free to ration in all the competences entrus- choose whether to send their children ted to the Community, this also in- to community, municipal or indepen- cludes the approval of international dent schools. The Constitution requi- treaties and contracts. res the communities to organize a neutral educational system, i.e. one Bilateral agreements with other states that takes into account the philosophi- and regions are usually negotiated by cal, ideological or religious views of pa- the Government and approved by the rents and pupils. It also states that all Parliament. Due to Belgium’s specific pupils and students, parents, members federal organization, the Parliament of

33 the German-speaking Community ra- The Parliament is also a member of tifies general international agreements the CALRE, the Conference of Euro- which affect the competences of the pean Regional Legislative Assemblies. German-speaking Community (EU ac- cession of eastern European states, EU constitutional treaty etc.). Regional matters The German-speaking Community has its own representation in the Commit- The nine municipalities of the German tee of the Regions. The Parliament of language area are a part of the Wal- the German-speaking Community is loon Region. Therefore, the German- also represented in the inter-parlia- speaking Community has no autonomy mentary assembly Benelux and dispat- in regional matters. Even so, Article 139 ches representatives in the interregio- of the Constitution provides for the nal council of Parliament members of German-speaking Community to exer- the Greater Region – composed of cise all or part of the powers of the Lorraine, Luxemburg, Rhineland-Palati- Walloon Region in the German-spea- nate, Saarland, Wallonia, Belgium’s king area, by mutual agreement bet- French Community and Belgium’s Ger- ween the German-speaking Commu- man-speaking Community – and in the nity and the Walloon Region. Euregio (-Rhine) Council. The transmission of regional compe- tences from Wallonia to the German- speaking community has been appro- ved by decree five times until now. This is the reason why the Parliament is also responsible for the following competences: 1. the protection of monuments and landscapes (since 1994) and excava- tions (1999) 2. the employment policy (1999) 3. the control of the church councils as well as the institutions who ma- nage the worldly goods of the offi- cially recognized religions, the re- gulation of burials and burial places, the general funding of the munici- palities, the funding of the munici- palities’ subsidized works, church councils and institutions who ma- Klösterchen, Eupen nage the worldly goods of the offi- cially recognized cults as well as the

34 administrative supervision of the Federal State, because the special rights municipalities, police zones and the of the protected French-speaking mino- intra-municipal of the German- rity places the municipalities in the Ger- speaking area as well as the organi- man-speaking area among those which zation of elections in municipal and enjoy special status (municipalities with intramunicipal institutions (2004, language facilities). Even so the federal 2009 und 2014) legislator must obtain the opinion of the Parliament of the German-speaking 4. Tourism (through reassignment Community in order to perform any after the 6th Reform of the state in changes. 2014) The same applies to changes in the le- gislation on institutional reforms for the German-speaking Community and on elections to the Parliament of the Ger- Opinions on the legislation man-speaking Community. of the Federal State

Unlike the Parliament of the French Community and the Flemish Parliament, the Parliament of the German-speaking Community may not adopt any decree concerning language use in administra- tive matters and in social relations bet- ween employers and employees. This legislation remains the reserve of the

35 THE GOVERNMENT: EXECUTIVE POWER

The Parliament elects the Government - it represents the Community in judi- of the German-speaking Community. cial and extra-judicial matters. It is composed of three to five mem- bers, who are not necessarily required to be members of Parliament. The Government and each of its mem- bers is responsible in front of Parlia- The Government performs the typical ment. All members swear their official executive powers. More precisely the oath on the Constitution in front of following: the Parliament’s President. - it implements the decrees of the Parliament by issuing rulings, At any time, the Parliament can adopt - it takes the initiative by submitting a motion of no-confidence against the draft decrees to Parliament, Government or one or more of its - it proposes uses for budget funds, members. However, such a motion is - it drafts and coordinates the Com- only permissible, if one or more suc- munity's policy. cessors, as the case may be, are pro- posed. The Government also has specific powers: The adoption of a motion of no-confi- - it can carry out expropriations in the dence by a majority in Parliament public interest; leads to the resignation of the Go- - it can conclude international trea- vernment or individual members and ties, which must be approved by the appointment of a new government Parliament; or individual members.

36 The Government can call for a vote of The Government has its own adminis- confidence at any time. Should it lose tration, the Ministry of the German- such a vote, it is deemed to resign by speaking Community, for the execution operation of law. of its tasks.

37 THE COMMUNITY’S FINANCES

At the end of every year the Parlia- sum (“Dotation”) composed of allo- ment of the German-speaking Com- cated shares from the tax income munity establishes by decree the in- (income tax and VAT) as well as come and expenditure budget for the other federal incomes added for following year. By doing so, it empo- new competences, which are legally wers the Government to incur expen- established through allocation lists. ditures under different headings or A contribution of these funds is “allocations”. The Parliament of the taken from the German-speaking German-speaking Community may Community for the financial rehabi- adapt its budget during the budget litation of the public finances; year. 2. allocations from the Walloon Re- gion, in connection with the trans- fer of regional competences;

The income budget 3. own non-tax income (interest on re- serves, donations, inheritances, etc.); The income budget represents the re- sources that are available to the Ger- 4. loans; man-speaking Community during a budget year. 5. own taxes: in principle Article 170 § 2 of the Constitution permits the The income budget of the German- German-speaking Community to speaking Community can consist of: raise taxes. In practice this right is 1. Allocations from the federal bud- limited to areas which are not taxed get: this is a legally established lump by another institution;

38 6. project-related subsidies: The Ger- king Community. The expenditure bud- man-speaking Community can re- get can be viewed not only as an abs- ceive grants and subsidies from tract set of figures but as reflecting other entities (e.g. the European the political will of the parliamentary Community, the Walloon Region) majority and the government, which is for certain projects, like job-creating borne by this majority. This expression measures, cross-border tourism in- of will is visible in the main financial frastructures, etc. areas of the budget planning. This po- litical freedom is, however, circum- scribed by the obligatory expenditures that the Community is required to The expenditure budget incur regardless of the parliamentary majority, e.g. teachers’ and clerks’ sa- The expenditure budget represents laries, functional grants established by the expenditures that the Parliament decree. of the German-speaking Community allows the Government to undertake in the individual areas of competence. Thanks to the financial resources co- ming from the individual expenditure Treasury budget, the German-speaking Com- munity finances or promotes the va- Since 1st January 1992 the German- rious initiatives taken either by itself or speaking Community has its own Trea- by entities founded, recognized and/or sury, entrusted with the management commissioned by the German-spea- of the community’s finances.

39 The State Audit political opportunity of this or that ex- penditure, but to establish whether The State Audit controls all budget ex- the Community’s decrees and the penditures by the government. It is budget legislation are correctly ap- an auxiliary body for the legislative plied and to ensure that individual powers. Its task is not to control the budget lines are not exceeded.

The Belgian Court of Auditors, Brussels

40 COOPERATION AND CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

The gradual transfer of powers to the agreements mandatory. It is generally communities and regions is intended the governments that take the initia- to strengthen the autonomy of Bel- tive in negotiating and signing agree- gium’s constituent legal entities. ments, with the councils granting their approval where appropriate. Given that it is not always possible to clearly demarcate the individual areas of competence of the federal state, the communities and regions, the Con- stitution makes provision for certain Conflict settlement forms of cooperation and of conflict settlement. Conflicts arise when a particular entity (federal state, community, region) ex- ceeds the powers allotted to it in the Constitution and in the implementing legislation (conflict of competences) or alternatively threatens the interests Cooperation of another entity (conflict of interests). The legislator has provided several The concluding of cooperation agree- mechanisms in order to prevent or ments allows individual entities to resolve such conflicts. exercise their powers in the most ap- propriate form and to avoid any con- Conflicts of competences are of legal flicts. For particularly sensitive areas nature and are solved legally. Conflicts (e.g. traffic and communications net- of interests have a political nature and works) the legislator even makes such are solved through dialogue.

41 The prevention of conflicts Prevention and resolution of competence: of conflicts of interest the Council of State and between legislative the Conciliation Committee assemblies

The “legislation” department of the Conflicts of interest between the state, Council of State issues reasoned opi- the communities and regions can arise nions on pre-drafts of laws and de- even where these bodies remain strictly crees and drafts of Royal, Ministerial or within their competences. A legislative Government rulings. When requested assembly (Chamber of Deputies, Senate, it can also issue opinions on proposed laws and decrees. If the Council of State believes that a pre-draft exceeds the competences of the state, the community and the region, the text is put before a consultative committee consisting of members of the federal government and of the governments of the regions and the communities. If this committee shares the opinion that competences have been exceeded, it suggests that the concerned govern- ment takes measures to prevent such exceeding of competences, for in- stance by revising the pre-draft. The same goes when a ruling is failed to be deposited, because such neglect can be harmful to other corporations as well.

Resolution of conflicts of competence: the Constitutional Court If an already passed law or decree con- tains an exceeding of competence, the Constitutional Court (previously Court of Arbitration) can be called in. This court can revoke laws and decrees in full or in part where competences are found to have been exceeded.

42 regional or community Parliament) can Prevention and resolution be of the opinion that it is severely dis- advantaged by a draft or proposed de- of conflicts of interest cree or law tabled in another assembly. between governments In this case it may, by a three-quarters majority, apply for the deliberations to If a draft ruling is tabled by a govern- be halted and for consultation to take ment (or if a government fails to table place. an ruling), the government of another If no agreement can be reached, it is up body may also consider itself disad- to the Senate or the Consultation Com- vantaged. The Minister-Presidents of mittee to find a solution. the governments are empowered to

43 Lontzen

call in the consultation committee set sentatives of the governments. This up to prevent and resolve conflicts. committee must then come up with a This committee is made up of repre- mutually acceptable solution.

44 AUTONOMY AND THE FUTURE OUTLOOK

Since 1970 Belgium has gone through in the work of the Saar-Lor-Lux Eure- the difficult process of converting it- gio region. self into a federal state. The German- The German-speaking Community is speaking Community is an autono- the smallest self-governing autono- mous component of the new Federal mous entity in the European Union, State of Belgium. It is now in a position and seeks to present itself appropria- to autonomously take care of its lin- tely to the outside world. guistic and cultural interests and to take political decisions linked to its The sixth state reform includes wide- citizens in major areas of life. reaching changes, which will shift many powers from the federal government It has established its relations with the to the regions and communities – also Flemish and the French Communities to the German-speaking Community. in a series of treaties, which serve as a Major concerns of broad political cir- basis for lively exchange at cultural, cles in the German-speaking Commu- sport and administrative levels. nity include the transfer of additional regional and provincial powers as well Cross-border and European coopera- as having guaranteed representation in tion is another key area of political the federal Parliament. These topics work that the German-speaking Com- will be feature largely in parliamentary munity undertakes autonomously. In debates in the coming months and June 1992 it was included as an equal years. partner in the Maas-Rhine Euregio re- gion and sends its representatives to the Euregio Council. It also participates

45 Selected further reading JENNIGES Hubert, Hinter ostbelgischen Kulissen. Stationen auf dem Weg zur Autonomie des deutschen Sprachgebiets in Belgien (1968-1972), Grenz-Echo Ver- lag, Eupen, 2001 BERGE Frank, GRASSE Alexander, Belgien - Zerfall oder föderales Zukunfts- modell?, leske + budrich, Opladen, 2003 STANGHERLIN Katrin (ed.), La Communauté germanophone de Belgique - Die Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Belgiens, la Charte, Bruxelles, 2005 LEJEUNE C., BRÜLL C. (Hg.): Grenzerfahrungen. Eine Geschichte der Deutsch- sprachigen Gemeinschaft Belgiens. Bd. 5: Säuberung, Wiederaufbau, Autono- miediskussionen (1945-1973), Grenz-Echo-Verlag, Eupen, 2014 BEGENAT-NEUSCHÄFER Anne (Hg.), Die Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Bel- giens. Eine Bestandsaufnahme, Peter Lang, Frankfurt/M., 2010 FÖRSTER Stephan, LAMBERTZ Karl-Heinz, NEYCKEN Leonhard, Die Deutschspra- chige Gemeinschaft Belgiens – das kleinste Bundesland in der Europäischen Union, in: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen, Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2004, Bd. 5, Nomos, Baden-Baden, 2004, S. 207-218 STANGHERLIN Katrin, FÖRSTER Stephan (éd.), La Communauté germanophone de Belgique (2006-2014), La Charte, Bruxelles, 2014, deutsch in: Europäisches Jour- nal für Minderheitenfragen, Bd. 6, Heft 4 (2013) STANGHERLIN Katrin, De Duitstalige Gemeenschap anno 2014, in: ALEN André (e.a.) (ed.), Het federale België na de Zesde Staatshervorming, Die Keure, Brugge, 2014, S. 305-321 LAMBERTZ Karl-Heinz, FÖRSTER Stephan, 25 Jahre Deutschsprachige Gemein- schaft Belgiens. Betrachtungen aus Sicht der Föderalismus-, Minderheiten- und Klein(glied)staatenforschung, in: Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen, Bd. 2, Heft 3 (2009), S. 103-118 BOUHON F., NIESSEN C., REUCHAMPS M., La Communauté germanophone après la sixième réforme de l’Etat: état des lieux, débats et perspectives, in: Courrier hebdomadaire, nr. 2266-2267, CRISP, Bruxelles, 2015. Welcher Platz für die Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft im föderalen Belgien? Bei- träge zum Kolloquium vom 12. März 2015 im Plenarsaal des Senats in Brüssel, in: Schriftenreihe der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft Belgiens, Bd. 2, Eupen, 2016.

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