Tasks of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community

The Parliament of the German-speaking Community carries out the functions usually exercised by the legislature:

• It adopts decrees i.e. clauses having the force of law for the German-speaking community.
• It elects the members of the government of the German-speaking community.
• It supervises the government.
• It elects a Senator.
• It adopts survey reports concerning law proposals and draft laws issued from the federal state and regarding the community. (e.g. legislation as regards the use of languages or of laws about continuing with the state reform.)

It represents a forum that discusses important political topics that do not directly come under the field of application of the German-speaking Community.

The decrees in the standard hierarchy

Decrees are clauses having the force of law for the German-speaking community, i.e. decrees are community laws.

The Parliament of the German-speaking Community represents a sovereign authority for taking decisions concerning communitarian competencies. The following principle is usually implemented: on the standard scale, the decrees are to be found on the same level as the federal laws or the decrees of the Walloon region. Only the special laws, the Belgian constitution and the standards of the international law are hierarchically superior.

The election of the Government

The law about the institutional reforms for the German-speaking Community specifies that the Government has to comprise three to five members, including at least one man and one woman.

The Government is usually formed at the beginning of every new legislative period, i.e. after the members of the Parliament have been elected.

However, a Government can be defeated or can decide to resign in the course of the legislative period in the following circumstances:

• In case of a constructive vote of no confidence: the motion of no confidence has to be signed by three deputies, and candidates must simultaneously be put forward as successors by the time of the election. The vote is kept secret. The motion is carried only if the majority of parliamentarians supports the motion of no confidence;
• If the Government has lost the confidence of the Parliament: the government has the possibility to raise the question of confidence; but if the majority of the Parliament rejects it, the Government will then be forced to resign.

Supervising the Government

The Parliament supervises the Government; in practice, the parliamentary parties of the opposition rather perform this task.

The regulation of the German-speaking Community provides for the following supervision instruments:

• Written questions: the Government has to answer written questions that are directed at it within 28 days. The question and the written answer are released in the monthly state bulletin called « Fragen und Antworten ».
• Urgent and current questions: urgent and current questions are asked orally. Each plenary session is preceded by a session of questions and answers, during which the deputies have the possibility to direct questions at the Government.
• Interpellations: During a plenary session, an interpellating representative calls upon a member of the Government to justify some official documents or to explain its policy within the scope of its application. The interpellator has to direct his or her interpellation at the Parliament in writing. It has to be passed on to the Government before the appropriate minister answers it during the plenary session.

The election of the senators

The Parliament of the German-speaking community has one of its members in Brussels, as senator. This function today is exercised by Louis Siquet (SP).

The Belgian Senate is constituted by 71 senators. 40 of them are directly elected and 10 are co-opted. The 21 remaining members are appointed by the communitarian parliaments. These members, therefore carry out a dual function representing both communitarian and national interests.