La parité linguistique au sein du conseil des ministres
(2007) Res Publica : Belgian journal of political science — Vol. 49, n° 4, p. 602-627 (2007)
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- Authors
- Abstract
- (en) Since 1970, the Belgian Constitution requires that the federal Council of Ministers be staffed by an equal number of Dutch-speaking and French-speaking ministers, with the possible exception of the Prime Minister. This article explores the constitutional rule of linguistic parity at the highest level of the state. Using the existing “model of points” and the author’s own “model of the weight of ministerial portfolios”, the study analyses the last twenty-three federal Governments (1970-2007) and shows that both Flemish and Francophone communities benefit from the parity: the former because it usually receives an extra minister –the Prime Minister– as well as more Secretaries of State and ensures a similar protection for its minority in Brussels; the latter because it enjoys a symbolic as well as a political guarantee of equal representation. Above all, the Council of Ministers is not only numerically well-balanced but also –and chiefly– politically well-balanced.
- Affiliations
Université de Liège
Citations
Reuchamps, M. (2007). La parité linguistique au sein du conseil des ministres. Res Publica : Belgian journal of political science, 49(4), 602-627. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/58005 (Original work published 2007)