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 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 Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

, 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, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

is a backward and undemocratic 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 Comm ...

. Bekaert himself opined that Belgium is not 'too complex' to require a king for stability between the

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...

, because

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. 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 Julien-Victor Lahaut (6 September 1884 – 18 August 1950) was a Belgian politician and communism, communist activist who served as president of the Communist Party of Belgium from 1945 to 1950. An important figure during the German occupation o ...

, leader of the

Communist Party of Belgium The Communist Party of Belgium (, , KPB; , , PCB) was a political party in Belgium from 1921 to 1989. The youth wing of KPB/PCB was known as the Communist Youth of Belgium. The party published a newspaper known as ''Le Drapeau Rouge'' in French ...

, who allegedly yelled "Vive la république!" ("Long live the republic!") during the inauguration of

Baudouin Baudouin () is a French masculine given name and surname, related to Baldwin. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Baudouin of Belgium (1930–1993), King of the Belgians from 1951–1993 * Prince Baudouin of Belgium (1869–1891), ...

on 11 August 1950, which was repeated by

Jean-Pierre Van Rossem Jean-Pierre Van Rossem (29 May 1945 – 13 December 2018) was a Belgian stock market guru, economist, econometrician, convicted fraudster, author, philosopher, public figure, politician, and member of the Belgian and Flemish Parliaments. L ...

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 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 ...

'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 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 ...

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 Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 (government), executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). ...

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

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

) without expensive direct

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

. Since 2010, the CRK is member of the Alliance of European Republican Movements (AERM). In March 2013, the CRK hosted the AERM convention 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 ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

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