Belgian Federal Parliament

Infobox Legislature
name = Belgian Federal Parliament
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house_type = Bicameral
houses = Chamber of Representatives
Senate
leader1_type =
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election3 = 2007
meeting_place = Palace of the Nation
website = http://www.fed-parl.be/index.html

The Belgian Federal Parliament is a bicameral parliament. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives ( _nl. Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers, _fr. la Chambre des Représentants, _de. die Abgeordnetenkammer) and the Senate ( _nl. de Senaat, _fr. le Sénat, _de. der Senat).

Chamber of Representatives

The Chamber of Representatives holds its plenary meetings in the Palace of the Nation, Brussels. Eligibility requirements for the Chamber are a minimum age of 21, citizenship, and residency in Belgium.

The number of seats in the Chamber is constitutionally set at 150 elected from 11 electoral districts. The districts are divided along linguistic lines: 5 Flemish (79 seats), 5 Walloon (49 seats), and the bilingual district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (22 seats). The districts are the provinces, except for the districts of Leuven (part of Flemish Brabant) and Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. Each district is given a number of seats proportional to its population (not number of voters) ranging from 4 for Luxembourg to 24 for Antwerp. All districts have an electoral threshold of 5%, except for Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde and Leuven; all districts are monolingual, except for Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde which encompasses both the 19 bilingual municipalities from the Brussels-Capital region as some 35 Dutch-speaking municipalities in Flemish Brabant, incl. 6 with language facilities for French-speakers.

The current composition was elected at the federal elections of 2007.

Senate

The Senate consists of 71 members. There are four categories of senators: directly elected senators, community senators, co-opted senators and senators by right ( _nl. senatoren van rechtswege, _fr. sénateurs de droit). For the election of the 25 Flemish and 15 Francophone directly-elected senators, the country is divided into three constituencies. Of the Community senators, 10 are elected by the Flemish Parliament, 10 by the Parliament of the French Community, and 1 by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.

The third category, the co-opted senators, consists of 10 representatives elected by the first two groups of Senators. Eligibility requirements for the Senate are identical to those for the Chamber.

The final category, that of senators by right, consists of the children of the reigning monarch who are eligible to succeed to the throne. In theory, they can vote; but since the royal family is supposed to be politically neutral, they, in practice, do not vote in the Senate and are not considered when the quorum is counted.

In the past, until 1991, senators by right could only be men, since women couldn't be heir to the throne before that day. At this time, however, this is no longer true; and at this time, Princess Astrid, Prince Philippe, and Prince Laurent exercise their constitutional right for a seat in the Senate. An unwritten law states that senators of law should not participate in Senate votes, even though they officially have the right to do so.

The Princes and Princesses of the royal line are full members of the Senate: Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent sit in the Senate.

The President of the Senate is Armand De Decker (MR).

The Senate holds its plenary meetings in the Palace of the Nation, Brussels.

Legislative procedure

Since the elections of 21 May 1995, there has been a breakdown of powers between the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, which resulted in the latter having fewer competences than the Chamber of Representatives. Prior to that, the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate did the same parliamentary work on an equal footing, but now there are three different legislative procedures that can be followed: the monocameral procedure, the optional bicameral procedure and the mandatory bicameral procedure.

In certain matters both Chambers have equal power. These include constitutional revisions, laws requiring a qualified majority, laws on the basic structure of the Belgian State, laws approving agreements of cooperation between the Federal State, the Communities and the Regions, laws on the approval of international treaties, and laws on the organisation of the judiciary, the Council of State, and the Constitutional Court. In this case, the mandatory bicameral procedure applies, which means that both Chambers must pass the exact same version of the bill.

For most other legislation, the Chamber of Representatives takes precedence over the Senate and the optional bicameral procedure applies. This means that the Senate may still intervene as a chamber of consideration and reflection. It has the opportunity to, within specific time limits, examine the bills adopted by the Chamber of Representatives and, if there is a reason to do so, make amendments. The Chamber may subsequently adopt or reject the amendments proposed by the Senate or make new proposals. The Senate can also submit a bill it has adopted to the Chamber, which can approve, reject or amend it. Whatever the case, the Chamber has the final word.

The monocameral procedure applies in cases where the Chamber of Representatives has the sole power to legislate. It means that the Senate cannot intervene and that the Senate's approval is not required for the bill to pass. The matters for which the Chamber of Representatives is exclusively responsible include naturalisations, ministerial liability, State budget and accounts and military quotas.

United Chambers

The United Chambers ( _nl. Verenigde Kamers, _fr. Chambres Réunies) is the name given to the body created when both chambers of the Federal Parliament meet in joint session. The United Chambers are convened only on certain occasions enumerated in the Belgian Constitution: the King must take the constitutional oath before the United Chambers, in accordance with article 91 of the Constitution, and the United Chambers must provide for the regency in the event that the successor to the Crown is a minor or the King is unable to reign, in accordance with articles 92 and 93 of the Constitution. The last session of the United Chambers took place on 9 August 1993, when King Albert II took the constitutional oath. [cite web
url=http://www3.dekamer.be/digidoc/ANHA/K0098/K00981856/K00981856.PDF
title=Solemn session of the United Chambers of Monday 9 August 1993 for hearing the constitutional oath of H.M. Albert II, King of the Belgians
author=The Chamber of Representatives and the Senate of Belgium
publisher=The Belgian Chamber of Representatives
work=Minutes of the United Chambers
accessdate=2007-11-17
language=French and Dutch]

References

ee also

* Politics of Belgium
* Court of Audit of Belgium
* List of political parties in Belgium
* Brussels Parliament
* Flemish Parliament
* "Commission communautaire française"
* Parliament of the German-speaking Community
* "Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie"
* Walloon Parliament
* Parliament of the French Community

External links

* [http://www.dekamer.be Chamber of Representatives]
* [http://www.senaat.be Senate]