The Reformist Movement (, , MR) is a liberal

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

political party in Belgium, which includes

social-liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited ...

and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest parties on the European continent. Since October 2014, the party has provided two prime ministers:

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...

and Sophie Wilmès. It has been a member of every federal government since the 2000s. At the federated entities level, the MR was in charge of

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

from 2017 to 2019 with

Willy Borsus Willy Borsus (born 4 April 1962) is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the Reformist Movement (MR). He was the 14th Minister-President of Wallonia from the 28th of July 2017 to the 13th of September 2019. Political career Political ma ...

Minister-President of Wallonia The minister-president of Wallonia () is the head of the Government of Wallonia, the executive power of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. The official residence, known as the Élysette, is in Namur, along the Meuse River. The ministe ...

. It is currently in charge of the

French community The French Community () was the constitutional organization set up in October 1958 between France and its remaining African colonies, then in the process of decolonization. It replaced the French Union, which had reorganized the colonial em ...

with Pierre-Yves Jeholet as Minister-President of the French community. The MR emerged victorious from the 2024 elections, becoming the leading French-speaking party. In Wallonia, the party came out on top with 29.6% of the vote. In Brussels, the MR also placed first, with 25.9% of the vote. Just a few days after the elections, the MR announced it would work closely with Les Engagés to quickly form governments in the Walloon Region and the French community. Having a majority on the French-speaking side of the Federal parliament, they joined forces to work on the formation of a new Belgian government. The MR is an alliance between three French-speaking and one German-speaking liberal parties. The Liberal Reformist Party (PRL) and the Francophone Democratic Federalists (FDF) started the alliance in 1993, and were joined in 1998 by the

Citizens' Movement for Change Citizens' Movement for Change (, , MCC) is a Christian-democratic political party in the French Community of Belgium founded by Gérard Deprez in 1998. Deprez was the leader of the Francophone Christian Social Party (PSC) from 1982 to 1995. He l ...

(MCC). The alliance was then known as the PRL-FDF-MCC federation. The alliance became the MR during a congress in 2002, where the German-speaking liberal party, the

Party for Freedom and Progress The Party for Freedom and Progress (; ; ; PVV-PLP) was a liberalism, liberal political party in Belgium which existed from 1961 until 1992. The party was the successor of the Liberal Party (Belgium), Liberal Party, which had roots dating back to ...

joined as well. The label PRL is no longer used, and the three other parties still use their own names. The MR is a member of

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberalism, liberal political parties. The political international was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal and progressive democratic parties aim ...

and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party. However, on 25 September 2011, the FDF decided to leave the coalition. They did not agree with the manner in which president

defended the rights of the French-speaking people in the agreement concerning the splitting of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district, during the 2010–11 Belgian government formation.

Ideology and policies

Over the years, the MR has always oscillated between ideological markers closer to

conservative liberalism Conservative liberalism, also referred to as right-liberalism, is a variant of liberalism combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right wing of the liberal movement. In the case of modern con ...

social liberalism Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

. Its fundamental principles remain however the same through time, such as defending

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

, entrepreneurial freedom, and equal opportunities. During Georges-Louis Bouchez's tenure as party president, the party is said to have shifted further to the right, aligning more with

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

. Bouchez has for example often publicly pointed out some excesses of the woke movement and he welcomed former members of the far-right Chez Nous party to the MR. On its current platform, the party advocates higher revenues through lower taxes; time-limited unemployment benefits; life extension of the most recent nuclear reactors; greater investment in police, justice and defense; less government and state neutrality. MR is "belgicain", in favor of Belgian unity and a strong federal state.

Foreign policy

The MR is also a strong supporter of the

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 ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. It has always defended support, including military aid, for

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

since the Russian invasion in 2022. In 2024, the MR was the only party from De Croo Government to be opposed to Belgium recognizing the State of Palestine.

Presidents

* 2002–2003:

Daniel Ducarme Daniel Ducarme (; 8 March 1954, Liège – 28 August 2010) was a Belgian politician and former Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region. Background and political affiliation Starting his political career in the Liberal Reformist Party ...

* 2003–2004: Antoine Duquesne * 2004–2011:

Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Reformist Movement, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) that served as List of European Commissioners for Justice and Equality, European Commissioner for Justice until 30 ...

* 2011–2014:

* 2014–2019: Olivier Chastel * 2019:

* 2019–present: Georges-Louis Bouchez

Representation in EU Institutions

In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, Mouvement Réformateur sits in the Renew Europe group with three MEPs: Sophie Wilmès, Olivier Chastel and Benoit Cassart. In the European Committee of the Regions, Mouvement Réformateur sits in the Renew Europe CoR group, with one full and one alternate member for the 2020-2025 mandate. Willy Borsus is second vice-president of the Renew Europe CoR Group.

Election results

Chamber of Representatives

Senate

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Walloon Parliament

European Parliament

Notable figures

* Sophie Wilmès *

* Louis Michel * Pierre-Yves Jeholet *

Christine Defraigne Christine Defraigne (; born 1962) is a Belgium, Belgian politician and a member of the Reformist Movement, MR. She was the President of the Belgian Senate, in office 2014 to 2018. Political views In 2009 Christine Defraigne proposed a nationwide ...

* Antoine Duquesne * Jean Gol * Sabine Laruelle * Jacques Simonet * Gérard Deprez

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mouvement Reformateur Conservative liberal parties Classical liberal parties Francophone political parties in Belgium

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 ...

Liberal parties in Belgium Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party member parties Political parties established in 2002 2002 establishments in Belgium Pro-European political parties in Belgium