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The German-Speaking Community and Its Parliament Impressum

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The German-Speaking Community and Its Parliament Impressum 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 Printing: Parliament of the German-speaking Community © Parliament of the German-speaking Community, 2014 Platz des Parlaments 1 B-4700 EUPEN 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- • education and training king Community is the legislative • monument and landscape protec- power of the German-speaking Com- tion and excavations munity in Belgium. The German-spea- • employment policy king Community is officially recogni- zed by Article 2 of the Belgian Consti- • supervision and financing of munici- tution. Its legal status is defined, inter palities. alia, by Articles 38, 115, 116, 121, 130, The Parliament of the German-spea- 139 and 176 of the Constitution. king Community exercises its legisla- Constitutionally the German-speaking tive powers by decree (“Dekret”). Community is a legislative institution Even if the German-speaking Commu- in matters specific to the Community nity makes up only a small minority of (Article 130 of the Constitution), as the Belgian population (0.7%), the well as such regional matters that Parliament of the German-speaking have been transferred to the Commu- Community is on an almost equal foo- nity under Article 139 of the Constitu- ting with the Parliament of the French- tion. These are: speaking Community and the Flemish • cultural matters, Parliament. It can be compared with • people-related matters, i.e. family, the Länder parliaments in federal health and social affairs, states like Germany or Austria, even • inter-community and international if these Länder have much wider cooperation powers. 4 5 Plenary hall in the new building The Parliament of the German-spea- The present small text is intended to king Community came officially into provide the reader with a basic being on 30 January 1984, under its knowledge of the autonomy of the former name of the “Council of the German-speaking Community and its German-speaking Community”. This Parliament. Obviously we need first to was the successor institution to the ive some details as to the size, Council of the German Cultural Com- structure and history of the German munity, an initial decision-making language area. We will also attempt to forum in which the desire for auto- explain in an understandable way how nomy of the German language area the German-speaking Community is was debated and the first decisions in incorporated into the structures of the cultural matters were made. Belgian federal state. 6 THE GERMAN-SPEAKING COMMUNITY The German-speaking Community of are, however, granted special rights. Belgium is located along the border For this reason decisions concerning with Germany between the Nether- the language used in administrative lands and Luxembourg. The German- matters are made by the federal state speaking Community has around and may not be taken independently 77,000 inhabitants. Most are German- by the German-speaking Community. speaking Belgians, but this number in- The territory of the German-speaking cludes Walloon, Flemish and foreign Community is identical with the Ger- citizens. man language region recognized in The German-speaking Community is article 4 of the Constitution. This area officially recognized by Article 2 of the is 854 km2 and covers the municipali- Constitution. Articles 115, 121 and 130 ties of Amel, Büllingen, Burg-Reuland, of the Constitution give it approxima- Bütgenbach, Eupen, Kelmis, Lontzen, tely the same legal status as the Raeren and St. Vith. French and Flemish Communities; i.e. The German-speaking Community it has more or less the same degree of consists in fact of two differently autonomy and powers, and the insti- structured sub-areas: the smaller, but tutions for expressing its individuality more densely populated area around are qualitatively equal. Eupen in the north, and the Belgian The administrative, educational and Eifel in the south. These two areas are judicial language in the German-spea- separated by the High Fens (in Ger- king area is German. French-speakers man: Hohes Venn), a moorland area 7 Born extending partly over the municipality no longer as an important source of of Weismes (French language region). income as in earlier years. In its place tourism is developing into a major Several industrial companies of super- economic factor in this attractive, but regional importance are located in and structurally weak region. around Eupen. The main school and shopping centre The area lies close to major internatio- of the southern municipalities is nal traffic routes. The city of Eupen St.Vith, a small city totally destroyed (18,000 inhabitants), an old cloth-ma- at the end of the Second World War king city with a long historical tradi- and later rebuilt. tion, is the seat of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community, its With its lake and Worriken tourist cen- Government and the BRF (“Belgian tre, Bütgenbach has developed in re- Radio and TV Centre of the German- cent years into a major vacation and speaking Community”). water sports centre for visitors from near and far. The surrounding municipalities are more rural, though zinc ore was mined The German-speaking Community has industrially for centuries in Kelmis, an extraordinary rich cultural life and which was in the 19th century the lar- boasts a high level of artistic creativity. gest zinc mining area in Europe. The Belgian Eifel consists of extensive woodland and grazing. Agriculture is 8 Kelmis Lontzen Raeren Eupen Bütgenbach Büllingen Amel St.Vith Burg Reuland 9 HISTORICAL MILESTONES ◀ Until 1794 the northern area (Eupen region) belonged mainly to the Duchy Monument preservation ensign of Limburg, governed in personal 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 dia- lects spoken in both the northern and southern parts: Lower Franconian, Rhi- nish Franconian and Mosel Franco- nian. ◀ 1794-1795: The French revolutio- naries conquered the Austrian Low Countries (including Limburg and Luxembourg), the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the Abbey of Stavelot-Mal- medy. The Eupen area and the Eifel were placed in the département of Ourthe, with the exception of Mander- feld-Schönberg, which now belonged to the Saar département. 10 ◀ 1815: With the defeat of Napoleon „Büchel“-tower St.Vith the map of Europe was redrawn at the Congress of Vienna. The Eupen area, the Eifel and part of the former abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy were included in the Rhineland, now Prussian (from 1830 Prussian province of the Rhine), as 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: In the First World War the inhabitants of Eupen and Malmedy fought on the side of the German Reich. 766 persons were recorded as dead and missing in the district of Eupen and 1082 persons in the district of Malmedy. ◀ 1919-1920: Under the Treaty of Ver- sailles, Neutral-Moresnet and - after a ◀ 1. January 1926: disputed referendum - the districts of The Constitution Eupen and Malmedy were transferred and the Belgian laws come into force in the “new Belgian” territories. to Belgium. ◀ 1925-1926 Secret negotiations bet- ◀ Between 1920-1925 the former ween Belgium and Germany for a re- German districts were subject to the turn of Eupen-Malmedy to Germany in authoritarian transitional regime of return for payment of 200 million gold Lieutenant-General Baltia and divided marks. Negotiations fail because of the into the three judicial cantons of energetic objection of France. Eupen, Malmedy and St. Vith. A strong revisionistic movement disputed
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