De Croo Government | |
---|---|
98th Cabinet of Belgium | |
Incumbent | |
Date formed | 1 October 2020 |
People and organisations | |
Head of state | Philippe of Belgium |
Head of government | Alexander De Croo |
No. of ministers | 15 |
Member parties | |
Status in legislature | Majority (coalition) 87 / 150 (58%) |
Opposition parties |
|
History | |
Election | 2019 Belgian federal election |
Legislature term | 2019–2024 |
Predecessor | Wilmès II |
The De Croo Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo since 1 October 2020. It has acted in a caretaker capacity since the resignation of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on 10 June 2024 following the 2024 Belgian federal election.
The creation of the De Croo Government occurred on 1 October 2020, 494 days after the 2019 Belgian federal election of May 2019 as the 2019–20 Belgian government formation had been again a difficult process. The government replaced the minority Wilmès II Government, which was a temporary government instated to handle the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak. The De Croo Government is a so-called Vivaldi coalition, named after composer Antonio Vivaldi due to his work The Four Seasons which corresponds to the four different political views present in this coalition: the liberals (Open Vld and MR), the socialists (Vooruit and PS), the greens (Groen and Ecolo) and the Christian democrats of CD&V.
Most notably this government doesn't have a majority in the Flemish language group, as the two largest political parties in Flanders (and simultaneously in all of Belgium) are part of the opposition: N-VA and Vlaams Belang. Other opposition parties are the Francophone parties Les Engagés and DéFI and the nationwide PVDA-PTB. [1]
Following the 2024 Belgian federal and regional elections, De Croo announced his resignation as prime minister. [2]
The Constitution requires an equal number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers (regardless of the Prime Minister) and with all parties requiring some positions, the number of members in the Government has increased considerably, from 12 to 14 ministers with an additional 5 extra Secretaries of State for a total of 7 extra members in the Government compared to the previous Wilmès II Government.
With several new parties coming in to the government and many existing parties replacing their ministers, only three ministers remain which were already present in the Wilmès II Government: Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (who was Minister of Development Cooperation, Finance and fighting Fiscal Fraud), the previous Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès who now becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs and David Clarinval who moves from Minister of Budget, Civil Service, National Lottery and Scientific Policy to Minister of the Middle Class, SMEs, Self-employed, Agriculture, and Institutional Affairs. A large number of government members were relatively unknown at the time of their appointment, as several parties decided to opt for new faces instead of familiar ones. One notable returnee is Frank Vandenbroucke who, after a nine-year break from politics, returns to become Minister of Health and Social Affairs, and has held multiple positions in the period 1994–2009, including Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Social Affairs, Labor, and Pensions.
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prime Minister | |||||||||
Prime Minister (from 22 April until 14 July 2022 also acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, replacing Sophie Wilmès) | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | Open Vld | ||||||
Deputy Prime Ministers | |||||||||
Minister of Economy and Employment | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | PS | ||||||
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions (absent from 22 April until 14 July 2022, replaced by colleagues De Croo, Clarinval and Michel) | 1 October 2020 | 14 July 2022 | MR | ||||||
Minister of the Small Businesses, Self-Employed, SMEs and Agriculture, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal (from 22 April until 14 July 2022 also acting Minister of Foreign Trade and Deputy Prime Minister for the MR, replacing Sophie Wilmès) | 22 April 2022 | Incumbent | MR | ||||||
Minister of Mobility | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | Ecolo | ||||||
Minister of Finance, in charge of the Coordination of the Fight against Fraud | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | CD&V | ||||||
Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health (from 19 October until 16 December 2022 also acting Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy, replacing Meryame Kitir) | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | Vooruit | ||||||
Minister of Civil Service, Public Enterprises, Telecommunication and Postal Services | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | Groen | ||||||
Minister of Justice and the North Sea | 1 October 2020 | 20 October 2023 | Open Vld | ||||||
Minister of Justice and the North Sea | 22 October 2023 | Incumbent | Open Vld | ||||||
Ministers | |||||||||
Minister of the Small Businesses, Self-Employed, SMEs and Agriculture, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal | 1 October 2020 | 21 April 2022 | MR | ||||||
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions | 15 July 2022 | 1 December 2024 | MR | ||||||
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions | 2 December 2024 | Incumbent | MR | ||||||
Minister of Pensions and Social Integration, in charge of Persons with Disabilities, Combating Poverty and Beliris | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | PS | ||||||
Minister of Defence | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | PS | ||||||
Minister of Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | Ecolo | ||||||
Minister of the Interior, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | CD&V | ||||||
Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy (absent from 19 October until 16 December 2022, replaced by colleague Vandenbroucke) | 1 October 2020 | 16 December 2022 | Vooruit | ||||||
Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy | 17 December 2022 | 1 October 2024 | Vooruit | ||||||
Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy | 1 October 2024 | Incumbent | Vooruit | ||||||
Minister of Energy | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | Groen | ||||||
Secretaries of State | |||||||||
Secretary of State for Recovery and Strategic Investments, in charge of Science Policy Deputy to the Minister of the Economy and Employment | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | PS | ||||||
Secretary of State for Digitization, in charge of Administrative Simplification, Privacy and Buildings Administration 9from 22 April until 14 July 2022 also acting Secretary of State for Federal Cultural Institutions, replacing Sophie Wilmès) Deputy to the Prime Minister | 1 October 2020 | Incumbent | MR | ||||||
Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity Deputy to the Minister of Mobility | 1 October 2020 | 26 April 2023 | Ecolo | ||||||
Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity Deputy to the Minister of Mobility | 2 May 2023 | Incumbent | Ecolo | ||||||
Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, in charge of the National Lottery Deputy to the Minister of the Interior, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal | 1 October 2020 | 27 June 2022 | CD&V | ||||||
Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, in charge of the National Lottery Deputy to the Minister of the Interior, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal | 28 June 2022 | Incumbent | CD&V | ||||||
Secretary of State for Budget and Consumer Protection Deputy to the Minister of Justice and the North Sea | 1 October 2020 | 18 November 2022 | Open Vld | ||||||
Secretary of State for Budget and Consumer Protection Deputy to the Minister of Justice and the North Sea | 18 November 2022 | Incumbent | Open Vld |
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