Belgian federal government
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The executive branch of the Belgian federal government consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior" ministers or smaller departments) drawn from the political parties which form the government coalition. Formally, the ministers are appointed by the King. The number of ministers is limited to 15, 7 at least from each of the two main communities, and they have no seat in Parliament. The Cabinet is chaired by the Prime Minister. Ministers head executive departments of the government.
The Prime Minister and his ministers administer the government and the various public services. As in the United Kingdom, ministers must defend their policies and performance in person before the Chamber. Sometimes, ministers tend to be slow and vague in their explanations.
At the federal level, executive power is wielded by the Cabinet. The Prime Minister is President of the Cabinet. Each minister heads a governmental department. The Cabinet reflects the weight of political parties that constitute the current governing coalition for the Chamber. No single party or party family across linguistic lines holds an absolute majority of seats in Parliament. The present Cabinet, the Guy Verhofstadt Cabinet, consists of the following members of the Flemish Liberal Party (VLD), the francophone Liberal Party (MR), the francophone Socialist Party (PS), the Flemish Socialist Party (SP.a) and its ally, SPIRIT.
[edit] Principal government officials (protocol ranking)
- Prime Minister--Guy Verhofstadt (VLD)
- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice -- Laurette Onkelinx (PS)
- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance -- Didier Reynders (MR)
- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Budget and Consumer Affairs -- Freya Van den Bossche (SP.a)
- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior -- Patrick Dewael (VLD)
- Minister of Foreign Affairs -- Karel De Gucht (VLD)
- Minister of Defense -- André Flahaut (PS)
- Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, and Science Policy -- Marc Verwilghen (VLD)
- Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health -- Rudy Demotte (PS)
- Minister of Middle Classes and Agriculture -- Sabine Laruelle (MR)
- Minister of Labour -- Peter Vanvelthoven (SP.a)
- Minister of Development Cooperation -- Armand De Decker (MR)
- Minister of Civil Service Affairs, Social Integration and Urban Policy -- Christian Dupont (PS)
- Minister of Transportation -- Renaat Landuyt (SP.a)
- Minister of Environment and Pensions -- Bruno Tobback (SP.a)
- State Secretary for Modernisation of Finance and the Battle against Fiscal Fraud, attached to the Minister of Finance -- Hervé Jamar (MR)
- State Secretary for Administrative Simplicifation, attached to the Prime Minister -- Vincent Van Quickenborne (VLD)
- State Secretary for European Affairs, attached to the Minister of Foreign Affairs -- Didier Donfut (PS)
- State Secretary for Labour Organisation and Well-being at Work, attached to the Minister of Employment and Pensions -- Els Van Weert (SPIRIT)
- State Secretary for Family and Handicapped Persons, attached to the Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health -- Gisèle Mandaila Malamba (MR)
- State Secretary for Public Enterprises, attached to the Minister of Budget -- Bruno Tuybens (SP.a)
[edit] Background of ministers
It is important to note that a number of ministers owe their political positions to their respective dynasty. For example socialist Ministers Van den Bosche, Vanvelthoven and Toback are the children of former political leaders/ministers. On the liberal side, Patrick Dewael is the nephew and cousin of former liberal ministers.
