The prime minister of Belgium (; ; ) or the premier of Belgium is the head of the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and the most powerful person in Belgian politics. The first head of government in Belgian history was Henri van der Noot in 1790, during the short-lived republic of the United Belgian States. Although Leaders of Government (French: ) had been appointed since the independence of the country, until 1918 the

king of the Belgians The monarchy of Belgium is the Constitutional monarchy, constitutional and Inheritance, hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of the Kingdom of Belgium. As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/quee ...

often presided over the Council of Ministers, so the modern era of the "Premiership" started after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

with Léon Delacroix. The political importance of the Crown has decreased over time, whereas the position of prime minister has gradually become more important. Bart De Wever, the (former) leader of New-Flemish Alliance, was appointed as new prime minister on 3 February 2025. He is the first Flemish Nationalist to ever become Premier of Belgium. He succeeded Alexander De Croo.

History

In 1790, the Sovereign Congress of the States of Belgium sat in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and was composed of representatives from each of the eight provinces. Henri van der Noot served as President of the National Congress, retaining the title of Minister Plenipotentiary having previously held the title Minister Plenipotentiary of Brabant. Since the independence of Belgium in 1830, governments have been designated with the name of the minister who formed the government as formateur, but that position did not have a specific status. Originally, from 1831 the

presided over the Council of Ministers, but when he was absent, the presidency was taken by the ''chef de cabinet'' (head of Cabinet), usually the oldest or most influential minister. This position gradually became more prominent, and the minister with this title then soon acquired the competency to present the king with the proposed allocation of the various ministerial departments among the ministers. With the expansion of voting rights after

, more political parties started to win seats in parliament—especially the Belgian Socialist Party—and this made it impossible to achieve an absolute majority in parliament. Since then,

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

s have been necessary, which has made the task of forming a government by the appointed formateur more difficult. Consequently, the formateur increasingly gained greater respect, and much prestige. Thus the formateur became prominent as a position of leadership. As the ministers of the government now represented various political parties, there was a need for someone to coordinate the proceedings of the various ministers. The prime minister was now asserted as the actual head of government, and this is how the office of prime minister came into existence. Gradually, the head of Cabinet replaced the king more often during the first half of the twentieth century, and as such gained importance within government. As the Constitution requires the king to exercise his powers through the ministers, the prime minister became reckoned as the country's most important political figure and ''de facto'' chief executive. Nevertheless, given his newly acquired prominence, as a member of the Cabinet the head of Cabinet continued to lead a ministerial department. The title of ''Prime Minister'' or ''

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

'' was used for the first time in 1918 in official documents and it is at this time that the position was assigned to its own cabinet. Only in 1970 the title was incorporated in the Belgian Constitution with the first state reform.

Function

Besides coordinating government policies, the prime minister is responsible for the proper execution of the coalition agreement. The prime minister also presides at meetings of the Council of Ministers and manages conflicts of competencies between the ministers. In addition, the prime minister represents the government coalition in public, both at home and abroad. It is the prime minister who maintains contact with the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and presents the government policy statement in the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. The prime minister can also ask Parliament for a vote of confidence, which can even lead to the government's resignation in the case of a constructive vote of no confidence. Unless the prime minister resigns because of a personal matter, the whole government resigns with the prime minister's resignation. The prime minister also represents Belgium in the various international organisations, alongside the

minister of foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. Due to the state reform, the prime minister acquired a number of additional tasks, such as keeping in check the relations between the different regions and communities of the country, and presiding at the deliberative committee that consists of the governmental representatives of all the federal entities. It is expected, though not required, that the prime minister be fluent in both French and Dutch.

Appointment

The day after the federal elections, the incumbent prime minister offers the resignation of his government to the king. The king then asks the resigning government to continue as a

caretaker government A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it co ...

until a new government is formed. The king then consults a number of prominent politicians in order to ascertain the different possibilities of forming a government. He usually consults the presidents of the Chamber of Representatives and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, the most important political parties, and other people of political and socio-economic importance. After the consultations, the king appoints an '' informateur'' who is in charge of collecting information from the different political parties about their demands for formation of a new government. After these consultations, the ''informateur'' reports to the king so that the king can find a suitable '' formateur'', who is responsible for forming the government. Usually, it is the ''formateur'' of the federal government who then becomes prime minister. It usually takes several months of negotiations before the ''formateur'' is ready to accept a formal royal invitation to form a government. Per the Constitution, the king's acts are only valid with the countersignature of a minister. For this reason, the outgoing prime minister countersigns the Act of Appointment of the new prime minister, and the new prime minister countersigns the Act of Resignation of the resigning prime minister. The king then appoints the other ministers and secretaries of state of the

, and their Acts of Appointment are countersigned by the prime minister.

Official office

The official office of the prime minister is located at 16 Rue de la Loi (Wetstraat in Dutch, or "Law Street" in translation) among many notable Belgian government and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

buildings in the centre of

and around Brussels Park. The residence includes the Belgian Federal Cabinet, the Chancellery and the Council of Ministers. It functions as the nerve center of Belgian politics. The building was originally erected as the so-called "Refuge House" by the Saint Gertrude Abbey of

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

. It was designed by the Belgian-Austrian architect Louis Joseph Montoyer. At the time of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1830), the building was planned to be used as the location for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1830 it was purchased by Prince Eugène of Ligne,Wetstraat 16 – virtueel bezoek – de hal – premier.fgov.be
/ref> and from 1944, the building became state property, after which it was furnished to function as a meeting place for the prime minister and his cabinet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prime Minister of Belgium Government of Belgium Political history of Belgium * 1831 establishments in Belgium

History

Function

Appointment

Official office

See also

References