He was state secretary for the research policy (1990), and later state secretary and minister for development cooperation (1991). Within the first cabinet of Jean-Luc Dehaene he was state secretary for development cooperation (1991-1995). From 1995 to 1999 he was the Belgian minister of foreign affairs. He left politics upon being appointed to the then Belgian Court of Arbitration on 10 August 2001. He retired from the Court, since 2007 reformed as the Constitutional Court, in October 2019 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
The politics of Belgium take place in the framework of a federal, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy. The King of the Belgians is the head of state, and the prime minister of Belgium is the head of government, in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. The federation is made up of (language-based) communities and (territorial) regions. Philippe is the seventh and current King of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013.
Marc Maria Frans, Viscount Eyskens, known as Mark Eyskens, is a Belgian economist, professor and politician in the Christian People's Party, now called Christian Democratic and Flemish, and briefly served as the prime minister of Belgium in 1981.
The Flemish Parliament constitutes the legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and as a cultural community of Belgium.
Willem Werner Hubert "Willy" Claes is a Belgian politician who served as the eighth Secretary General of NATO, from 1994 to 1995. Claes was forced to resign from his NATO position after he was found guilty of corruption, which was uncovered during the investigation into André Cools' death. Claes was a member of the Flemish Socialist Party.
Yves Camille Désiré Leterme is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008, and later from November 2009 to December 2011.
Flemish political parties operate in the whole Flemish Community, which covers the unilingual Flemish Region and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. In the latter, they compete with French-speaking parties that all also operate in Wallonia. There are very few parties that operate on a national level in Belgium. Flanders generally tends to vote for right-wing, conservative parties, whereas in French-speaking Belgium the socialist party is usually the most successful one.
The Federal Government of Belgium exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretary of state drawn from the political parties which form the governing coalition. The federal government is led by the prime minister of Belgium, and ministers lead ministries of the government. Ministers together form the Council of Ministers, which is the supreme executive organ of the government.
The Constitutional Court plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980. Its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003.
Louis Marie Joseph Tobback is a Belgian politician. Tobback is a Flemish social democrat and member of the political party SP.A. He was the mayor of Leuven (1995–2018) He graduated in Romance philology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is the father of Bruno Tobback, the former president of the Flemish socialist party Different Socialist Party (SP.A).
Luís Filipe Marques Amado is a Portuguese politician who served as Minister of Defence, from 2005 to 2006, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, from 2006 to 2011, in the XVII and XVIII Constitutional Governments of Portugal, led by the Socialist Party. On 30 June 2007, he succeeded to the EU Council Presidency on behalf of Portugal.
The Constitution of Belgium dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy and the separation of powers.
Hugo Schiltz was a Belgian lawyer and politician. He was Belgian MP from 1965 to 1988 and senator from 1992 to 1995. He was also twice minister, from 1981 to 1985 in the first Flemish Government and between 1988 and 1991 in the Belgian federal government Martens VIII. He was further president of the Flemish political party Volksunie between 1975 and 1979.
Caroline Gennez is a Belgian socialist politician who has been serving as the Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy in the De Croo Government since December 2022. She is a former chairwoman of the Socialist Party – Different (SP.A) in Flanders.
The Verhofstadt I Government was the federal government of Belgium from 12 July 1999 to 12 July 2003.
The Leterme II Government was the federal government of Belgium from 25 November 2009 to 26 April 2010, and the caretaker government until 6 December 2011. It took office when the Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme (CD&V) was sworn in as Prime Minister. It followed the Van Rompuy I Government which ended when Herman Van Rompuy became the first President of the European Council. It comprised five parties: the Dutch-speaking Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V), the Dutch-speaking Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, the French-speaking liberal Reformist Movement (MR), the French-speaking Socialist Party (PS) and the French-speaking Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH).
Dinah Derycke was a French politician of the Socialist Party.
Leona Maria Detiège is a Belgian politician.
The Council of Ministers is the supreme executive organ of the Federal Government of the Kingdom of Belgium. It is a cabinet composed of the Prime Minister, who leads it, and up to fourteen senior ministers. Federal secretaries of state are members of the government, but not part of the Council. The King of the Belgians historically presided over the Council, but this has not happened since 1957. The Council of Ministers formally became a permanent policy structure with the constitutional revision of 1970.
Irène Pétry was a Belgian socialist politician. She was the first female president of the Constitutional Court . She took part in founding a movement called the "Femmes Prévoyantes Socialistes". She was one of the first women to pursue a political career that took her to the highest levels. The main idea for which she fought her whole life was the equality and emancipation of man and woman.
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