The Republican Circle or CRK (Dutch: ''Republikeinse Kring'', French: ''Cercle républicain'', German: ''Republikanischer Kreis'') is a Belgian trilingual republican association that aims to promote republican values and various republican forms of government whilst respecting cultural specificities.

History

The association was founded on 1 January 2000, and organises debates, spreads information and provides speakers to conferences. The cause for its foundation was the wedding of

Prince Philippe french: Philippe Léopold Louis Mariegerman: Philipp Leopold Ludwig Maria , house = Belgium , father = Albert II of Belgium , mother = Paola Ruffo di Calabria , birth_date = , birth_place = Belvédère Castle, Laeken, B ...

and Princess Mathilde in 1999. Some prominent members are Claude Boumal, Nadia Geerts (chair 2000–2010) and Philipp Bekaert (chair in 2013), all three of them connected to the VUB- ULB. In 2011, the CRK had 'a few hundred members'. There are both Francophone and Dutch-speaking members, and according to Bekaert, with the exception of Vlaams Belang, almost all political parties are represented. The association is mainly trying to argue that the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy ...

is a backward and

undemocratic Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...

institute. It does not take a position on a potential

partition of Belgium The partition of Belgium is a hypothetical situation, which has been discussed by both Belgian and international media, envisioning a split of Belgium along linguistic divisions, with the Flemish Community (Flanders) and the French-speaking Commu ...

. Bekaert himself opined that Belgium is not 'too complex' to require a king for stability between the communities, because Switzerland, despite having its own linguistic conflicts, has not had any need for a monarch in its long republican tradition either. In August 2000, CRK members called for reopening the discussion about the

. Amongst other things they recalled the Royal Question and the assassination of Julien Lahaut, leader of the Communist Party of Belgium, who allegedly yelled "Vive la république!" ("Long live the republic!") during the inauguration of

Baudouin Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his dea ...

on 11 August 1950, which was repeated by Jean-Pierre Van Rossem in 1993. They emphasised that 'the monarchy is not more legitimate today than yesterday'. On the occasion of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

's expansion on 1 May 2004, thirteen republican organisations from all the EU's monarchies petitioned the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the 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 adop ...

to abolish the monarchy in the entire European Union. The petition was an initiative of the Republican Circle (CRK). From 2003 until 2007, the association annually awarded the 'Prize for Vocal Republican Citizenship' and the 'Prize for Submissiveness to His Majesty'.Prijs voor de mondige burger van de Republiek & voor de onderdaan zijner majesteit
/ref> The CRK conducted an inquiry on how expensive a republic would be in comparison to a monarchy, and found that Belgian citizens pay three times the amount for their king than

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

do for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

and a hundred times the amount the Swiss pay for their

. The CRK concluded that it's a 'myth' that republics are more expensive than monarchies, especially in the case of a

parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...

in which the president is appointed by Parliament (like in Germany,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) without expensive direct

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

. Since 2010, the CRK is member of the

Alliance of European Republican Movements The Alliance of European Republican Movements (AERM) is a grouping of republican movements from across Europe. It was established in Stockholm in June 2010, after the wedding of Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling. The aim of th ...

(AERM). In March 2013, the CRK hosted the AERM convention in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website (archived)TwitterFacebook
2000 establishments in Belgium Non-profit organisations based in Belgium Republicanism in Belgium