Oliver Paasch (German pronunciation: ['ɔlɪvɐ'pa:ʃ] ; Malmedy, 21 October 1971) is a Belgian politician of the German-speaking Pro Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft party and the incumbent Minister-president of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
Between 2004 and 2014 he held several ministerial posts in the Government of the German-language Community. In June 2014 he replaced Karl-Heinz Lambertz as Minister-President of the German-speaking Community. [1]
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.
The minister-president of the Brussels Capital-Region is the person leading the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region. The post is appointed for 5 years along with 4 ministers and 3 "state" secretaries. While being the leader of the Government, the Minister-President also is the president of the college of the Common Community Commission of Brussels.
The minister-president of Flanders is the head of the Flemish Government, which is the executive branch of the Flemish Region and Flemish Community.
The prime minister of Belgium or the premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government of Belgium, and the most powerful person in Belgian politics.
The Reformist Movement is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest parties on the European continent.
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It is an alternative term for prime minister, premier, chief minister, or first minister and very similar to the title of president of the council of ministers.
The German-speaking Community, also known as East Belgium, is one of the three federal communities of Belgium, with an area of 854 km2 (330 sq mi) in the Liège Province of Wallonia, including nine of the eleven municipalities of Eupen-Malmedy. The primary language of the community is German, making this one of the three official languages in Belgium. Traditionally the community and the wider area around it forms an intersection of various local languages and/or dialects, namely Limburgish, Ripuarian and Moselle Franconian varieties. The community population numbers around 79,000 – about 7.0% of Liège Province and about 0.7% of the national total.
In Belgium, the French Community refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which is controversial because its name in the Belgian constitution has not changed and because it is seen as a political statement. The name "French Community" refers to Francophone Belgians, and not to French people residing in Belgium. As such, the French Community of Belgium is sometimes rendered in English as "the French-speaking Community of Belgium" for clarity, in analogy to the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
The Socialist Party is a social democratic French-speaking political party in Belgium. As of the 2024 elections, it is the fourth largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party. The party is led by Paul Magnette. The party supplies the Minister-president of the French Community, and the Brussels-Capital Region. In the German-speaking community, the party is known as the Sozialistische Partei (SP).
The Parliament of the German-speaking Community is the legislative assembly of the German-speaking Community of Belgium located in Eupen.
ProDG is a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party active in the German-speaking Community of Belgium. The party brings together politicians from the previous Party of German-speaking Belgians (PDB) and Parteilos Jugendliche Unabhängige (PJU) movement. The party was formed in 2008 and first featured on the electoral ballot in 2009. Following the 2009 regional election, the party won four out of 25 seats in the Parliament and participated in the regional Government of the German-speaking Community of Belgium with two ministers. In the 2014 regional election, the party won six seats and its leader Oliver Paasch became the new minister-president.
The Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parliament. Created in 1831 as a chamber fully equal to the Chamber of Representatives, it has undergone several reforms in the past, most notably in 1993 and 2014. The 2014 elections were the first without a direct election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is composed of members of community and regional parliaments and co-opted members. It is a chamber of the communities and regions and serves as a platform for discussion and reflection about matters between these federated entities. The Senate today plays a minor role in the federal legislative process. However, the Senate, together with the Chamber, has full competence for the Constitution and legislation on the organization and functioning of the Federal State and the federated entities. Since the reform of 2014, it holds about ten plenary sessions a year.
Karl-Heinz Lambertz is a Belgian politician holding a master's degree in law from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) with an additional specialisation in German law. Lambertz was president of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) from 12 July 2017 until 12 February 2020 after serving a 2+1⁄2-year term as first vice-president. He is also president of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
The 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis was a period of tense communal relations and political instability in Belgium, which was rooted in the differing opinions on state reform, and in the continued existence of the controversial electoral district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV). Parties from the Dutch-speaking Flemish Community are in general strongly in favour for a devolution of powers to the communities and regions, and the splitting of the unconstitutional BHV district, while French-speaking French Community of Belgium is generally in favour of retaining the status quo. After the 2010 elections, the topics of public debt, deficit cuts and socio-economic reform were added to the debate, with most Flemish parties in favour of finding money by strongly reducing spending, whilst the proposals supported by most French-speaking parties also included a significant raise in taxes. The crisis came to an end in December 2011 with the inauguration of a new federal government which agreed on partition of the BHV district and on policies aimed at tackling the economic downturn. The country's continuing linguistic divide played a large part in the crisis. Several times during the period Belgium was threatened to be split up amid rising Flemish separatism.
The minister-president of the German-speaking Community is the head of the Government of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, one of the three Communities of the country.
The minister-president of Wallonia is the head of the Government of Wallonia, the executive power of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium.
The government of the Brussels-Capital Region is the political administration of the Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. An election is held every five years. The government is headed by a Minister-President, four ministers and three state secretaries.
Regional elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014 to choose representatives for the Flemish Parliament, Walloon Parliament, Brussels Parliament and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community. These elections were held on the same day as the 2014 European elections as well as the 2014 Belgian federal election.
The 2019 Belgian regional elections took place on Sunday 26 May, the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election as well as the Belgian federal election.
Isabelle Weykmans is a Belgian politician of the Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt (PFF). She has been Minister in the Government of the German-speaking Community since 2004 and is currently responsible for the areas of culture, employment and tourism.