The Arrondissement of Brussels-Capital (; ) is the only administrative
arrondissement
An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands.
Europe
France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...
in the
Brussels-Capital Region of
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 ...
. Because it is the only administrative arrondissement in the Brussels Region, its territory coincides with that of the latter.
The arrondissement was created in 1963 upon the splitting of the
arrondissement of Brussels into the capital one and the surrounding
arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde. They remained part of the
Province of Brabant until it was split as well in 1995. In that year, the
arrondissement of Nivelles formed the new
Walloon Brabant and the arrondissements of Halle-Vilvoorde and Leuven formed the new
Flemish Brabant. The arrondissement of Brussels-Capital, corresponding to the Brussels-Capital Region, thus became extraprovincial, meaning it is not a province, neither does it belong to one, nor does it contain any. However, it was the only Belgian arrondissement that was headed by a
governor and a vice-governor until 2014 when these posts were abolished in accord with the
2011 state reform.
The Brussels-Capital Region is divided into 19 municipalities, of which the
City of Brussels
The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...
is the largest and most populous. See the
list of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region.
Governor and vice-governor
The governor exercised most of the few remaining powers elsewhere exercised by a provincial governor, particularly in the field of public order, as far as no (federal) law, (regional) decree, ordonnance or decision states otherwise. The governor was appointed by the
government of the Brussels-Capital Region on the unanimous advice of the
Federal Council of Ministers. The regional government also appointed the vice-governor, who was required to have a considerable knowledge of both French and Dutch and who had a duty to ensure that the legislation regarding the use of languages was observed in the Brussels region.
Demographics
See also
*
Brussels Capital Region
References
{{Brussels-geo-stub
Geography of Brussels
Brussels-Capital