Municipality in a Federal State

10 Local Government Systems

Case Studies

Commonalities and Differcences

Belgium
A training by MonTi – ada.monti@outlook.com

Federal Law Academy – Legal Aid Network

1 / 17
2 / 17
3 / 17
Etterbeek – La Commune

4 / 17
Harelbeke - Stadhuis

5 / 17
 national and sub-national levels of government as
defined by the Constitution of Belgium of 1993

When the Belgian State was created in 1831, there were 2739
communes / municipalities.

Since the amalgamation / merger of communes in 1975, there are still 589.

6 / 17
7 / 17
 structure of municipal powers

mayor
executive legislative
college of mayor and eldermen council
first elderwoman or elderman mayor
mayor chosen by the state after proposal of council

elderwomen – eldermen 7 - 55 councilors

each in charge for a specific field like a elected assembly
minister of health, tranport, etc.

The powers of municipalities and provinces are described in

Chapter VIII, Constitution of Belgium, 1993.
8 / 17
 powers of municipalities

The powers of municipalities are mainly related to public works,

social welfare, maintaining public order, housing, education.

Moreover they are charged by the higher authorities with tasks

like maintaining the registers of births, deaths and marriages, plus
the registers of the population.

Despite this there isn't any norm that forbids plans and programs
about the management of land, natural resources and
environment, when they are not conflicting with the ones of
higher levels of government. (subsidiarity)
9 / 17
 taxes

The public expenditure and revenue in 2015 for the three levels of
governments expressed in percentage of the Gross Domestic Product
GDP was:

revenue:
municipalities and provinces 7.2%
state / regions and communities 17.9%
federal state 26.4%

expenditure:
municipalities and provinces 7.3%
state / regions and communities 19.3%
federal state 27.6%

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/
10 / 17
 local taxation

Local tax is calculated as a percentage of income tax due.

The actual percentage depends on the commune where the

taxpayer is living and may vary from 0 % to 10 %.

For nonresident taxpayers, local tax is always 7 %.

This tax is collected by the central government which then

transfers this revenue to districts-provinces and municipalities.

11 / 17
 police 1

The local police is made up of 196 police forces

constituted from the former communal and gendarmerie
brigades.

50 police forces cover the territory of one municipality

(one-city zone) and 146 cover more than one
municipality (multi-city zone).

The local police can be compared to municipal police

forces but have more competencies i.e. about crime.
12 / 17
 police 2

Each local police chief is responsible for the execution

of local law enforcement policy and ensures the
management, organization and distribution of missions
in the local police force.

She or he works under the authority of the mayor in

one-city zones, or under a police board composed of all
the mayors from the different municipalities in a multi-
city police zone.
13 / 17
conflicts in between municipalities and other levels of power

The federal parliament or a supervisory authority, a ministry

or the parlament of a state depending on their
competencies, are invested in dealing with problems and
conflicts arising out of a municipality.

Chapter VIII , art. 162 of the federal constitution “On provincial and municipal
institutions” says:

“Provincial and municipal institutions are regulated by the law.

The law guarantees the application of the following principles: (…)

6° the intervention of the supervisory authority or of the federal legislative power to

prevent the law from being violated or public interests from being harmed.”

14 / 17
 collaboration in between munipalities

Municipalities may band together for the joint delivery of certain

services, such as supplying water, gas or electricity.

Art. 165 of the federal constitution defines the rules for metropolitan
districts and federations of municipalities.

§ 1. The law creates metropolitan districts and federations of

municipalities.
It determines their organisation and their competences (…)

Each metropolitan district has a council and an executive college. (...)

The boundaries of the metropolitan districts and of the federations of

municipalities can only be changed or corrected by virtue of a law.
15 / 17
 immigration

The Belgian federal state introduced integration as a

policy concept as part of general migration legislation in
the late 1980s, but without any formal or coercive
requirements.

Integration and reception became a competence of the

states / communities, to which other policies regarding
social inclusion were added, such as housing, urban
planning and education.

On the municipal level the Public Centres for Social

Welfare PCSW are responsible for social assistance
and social integration.
16 / 17
17 / 17