Editing Politics of Belgium (section)

===Executive===
{{Office-table}}
| [[King of the Belgians|King]]
| [[Philippe of Belgium|Philippe]]
| {{n/a}}
| 21 July 2013
|-
| [[Prime Minister of Belgium|Prime Minister]]
| [[Bart De Wever]]
| [[Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie|N-VA]]
| 3 February 2025
|}

====Head of state====
{{Main|Monarchy of Belgium}}

'''[[Monarchy of Belgium|The King of the Belgians]]''' is the constitutional head of the Belgian state and holds office for life. The duties of the king are laid out by the Belgian Constitution and other laws enforced under it.

As titular head of state, the king plays a ceremonial and symbolic role in the nation. His main political function is to designate a political leader to form a new cabinet after an [[election]] or the resignation of a cabinet. In conditions where there is a "constructive vote of no-confidence," the [[government]] has to resign and the [[Belgian Chamber of Representatives|lower house]] of [[Belgian Federal Parliament|Parliament]] proposes a new [[prime minister]] to the king.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fed-parl.be/gwuk0006.htm#E11E6 |title=Constitution of Belgium - Article 96 |publisher=Fed-parl.be |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403214530/http://www.fed-parl.be/gwuk0006.htm#E11E6 |archive-date=2010-04-03 }}</ref> The king is also seen as playing a symbolic unifying role, representing a common national Belgian identity.

[[Philippe of Belgium|Philippe]] succeeded his father [[Albert II of Belgium|Albert II]] on 21 July 2013 upon his abdication.

====Federal government====
{{Main|Belgian federal government}}

The executive power is held by the [[prime minister]] and the [[Political minister|ministers]], who together form the Council of Ministers, and by the [[secretary of state#Belgium|secretaries of state]], each of whom is deputy to a minister and is part of the federal Government, but does not sit in the Council of Ministers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fed-parl.be/gwuk0006.htm#E11E6 |title=Constitution of Belgium - Article 104 |publisher=Fed-parl.be |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403214530/http://www.fed-parl.be/gwuk0006.htm#E11E6 |archive-date=2010-04-03 }}</ref>

Members of the Federal Government, who are formally appointed by the King, are in fact drawn from the [[political party|political parties]] which form the government [[coalition government|coalition]].

The Federal Government must enjoy the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives.

The total number of ministers, excluding the prime minister, cannot exceed 15. Also, the number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers must be equal, with the possible exception of the prime minister.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fed-parl.be/gwuk0006.htm#E11E6 |title=Constitution of Belgium - Article 99 |publisher=Fed-parl.be |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403214530/http://www.fed-parl.be/gwuk0006.htm#E11E6 |archive-date=2010-04-03 }}</ref>

Ministers head executive departments of the government. The prime minister and his ministers administer the government and the various [[public services]] and the ministers must defend their policies and performance in person before the Chamber.

====Regional and community governments====

The regional and community parliaments and governments have jurisdiction over transportation, public works, water policy, cultural matters, education, public health, environment, housing, zoning, and economic and industrial policy. They rely on a system of revenue-sharing for funds. They have the authority to levy a very few taxes (mostly surcharges) and to contract loans. Moreover, they have obtained exclusive treaty-making power for those issues coming under their respective jurisdictions. Of total public spending (interest payments not considered), more than 30% is authorized by the regions and communities, although their financing comes for over 80% from national Belgian budgets; at the same time, the national government controls 100% of social security, and strictly limits the taxation policy by the federalized entities. As a result, Belgian institutions still control over 90% of the effective, global taxation levels on individuals and companies.

Though since 1993 article 35 of the Constitution requires the creation of a list specifying federal as opposed to regional and communities' competences, such list was never created. Therefore, the federal government continues to exercise all competences not explicitly dedicated to the lesser levels.<ref>
{{cite magazine
|author=Ann Peuteman
|title=De staatshervorming, war moet dat heen?
|magazine=Knack magazine
|date=8 May 2008
|issue=37th year, number 18
|page=25
|quote=In België is het voorlopig zo dat bevoegdheden die niet expliciet aan de gewesten of de gemeenschappen zijn toegewezen op federaal niveau worden uitgeoefend. 'In artikel 35 van onze grondwet staat sinds 1993 nochtans dat er een lijst van federale bevoegdheden moet worden gemaakt. Maar dat is nooit gebeurd.', zegt [grondwetspecialist Patrick] Peeters.}}</ref>

The Flemish parties generally favour much larger community (and regional) autonomy, including financial and tax autonomy, while the francophone parties generally oppose it. The French-speaking parties tend to favour more state control.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Flemish culture and customs {{!}} Team Flanders |url=https://teamflanders.org/?page_id=319 |access-date=2022-09-17 |website=teamflanders.org}}</ref>

As of October 2019, the regional executives are the following:
* [[Minister-President of Flanders|Minister-President of Flemish Government (Community+Region)]]: [[Jan Jambon]] (N-VA)
* [[Minister-President of the French Community|Minister-President of French Community Government]]: [[Pierre-Yves Jeholet]] (MR)
* [[Minister-President of Wallonia]]: [[Elio Di Rupo]] (PS)
* [[Minister-President of the Brussels Capital-Region|Minister-President of Brussels-Capital Regional Government]]: [[Rudi Vervoort]] (PS)
* [[Minister-President of the German-speaking Community|Minister-President of German Community Government]]: [[Oliver Paasch]] (ProDG)

====Provincial and local government====
The two biggest regions, Flanders and Wallonia, are further subdivided into five [[Provinces of Belgium|provinces]] each. The Brussels-Capital Region is directly divided into 19 municipalities. In total, Belgium counts 581 [[municipalities of Belgium|municipalities]]. Provincial and local government is an exclusive competency of the regions. Therefore, one should see the relevant articles for more detailed information on provincial and local government.

In the Brussels region, there is another form of intermediate government, constituted by institutions from each of the two competent communities. Those institutions ([[COCOF]] for the French-speakers and [[Flemish Community Commission|VGC]] for the [[Flemish people|Fleming]]s) have similar competencies, although only COCOF has legislative powers, given by the French Community. For Brussels community matters common to both communities there is a [[Common Community Commission]].