How to prepare a decree?

The parliament has the right to exercise its legislative functions only in the framework of its competencies. It can sometimes take a long time to prepare a decree.

The initiatives resulting in a decree: draft decrees or decree proposals

The decree proposal: The proposal for a new decree may be prepared by one or several members of the Parliament, which decides whether the document is acceptable, i.e. whether the proposed clauses fall under the competencies of the
Community.

The draft decree: The Government is also entitled to take such an initiative. The governmental project consists not only of the proposed text, but also of a recommendation from the Council of State concerning the preliminary draft. The survey report of the Council of State checks that:

• the text is legistically adequate, i.e. in accordance with the legal requirements,
• it does not go against any other decree or legal rule,
• most important, it does not exceed the Communitarian competencies.

How to avoid exceeding competencies

Any transgression of the competencies from the Community should absolutely be avoided. In reality, such a transgression may lead to difficulties with other political bodies.

• For instance, if the German-speaking Community adopted a decree in the hunting or the water policy field, it would come into conflict with the appropriate authority, i.e. the Walloon region.
• If the German-speaking Community wrote a decree relating to the affairs of the army or the organisation of the justice system, it would inevitably come into conflict with the Federal State.

So, the recommendation concerning the projects of decrees, which is issued by the Council of State, aims at avoiding conflicts of authority. At the request of the Parliament, draft proposals may also be presented to the Council of State for survey.

• The draft decree or the decree proposal is sent to the appropriate specialized committee.
• The author(s) present(s) the text.
• Then, every article will be thoroughly analysed.
• The members of the Parliament or the Government can possibly move an amendment.
• Eventually, the committee passes the final text and draws up a report for the plenary meeting.

The vote at the plenary meeting

The plenary meeting of the Parliament chairs a political discussion about the document that is referred to them. It is quite frequent that amendments are moved within the plenary meeting itself. A decree text is passed when it reaches the majority of the votes at the plenary meeting.

Approval and publication by the Government.

A decree can only come into force after being passed by the Parliament and approved by the Government. In the end, the Government is responsible for its execution, i.e. the practical application of the decree. Yet, if the Government declined the approval of a parliamentarian decree, this decision would bring about a break of confidence between the legislative and the executive power, with possible serious results.

The Government publishes the decree in the official Belgian state bulletin called ‘Belgisches Staatsblatt’. At this stage, all the steps have been completed and the decree comes into force ten days after its publication.

Thirty years’ legislative power

Since its foundation in 1973, the Parliament of the German-speaking Community has carried approximately 1020 resolutions. These include :

• 320 decrees
• 82 statutory orders (in the time of the Council of the German cultural community, these orders could only be passed within the scope of the domestic legislation)
• 215 fiscal decisions (142 decrees - 73 statutory orders)

To this day, about 250 statutory decrees and orders are valid.