Parliament of the German-speaking Community
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| Parliament of the German-speaking Community | |||||
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| Type | Unicameral | ||||
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| Speaker | Ludwig Siquet, SP since 6 July 2004 |
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| Members | 25 | ||||
| Political groups | CSP (8), PFF (5), SP (5), PJU-PDB (3), Ecolo (2), Vivant (2) |
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| Last elections | 13 June 2004 | ||||
| Meeting place | Eupen | ||||
| Web site | www.dgparlament.be | ||||
The Parliament of the German-speaking Community (German: Parlament der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft or PDG) is the legislative assembly of the German-speaking Community of Belgium based in Eupen.
The most important tasks of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community include the election and the supervision of the Government of the German-speaking Community, the adoption of decrees for the German-speaking Community and the preparation and adoption of the annual budget.
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[edit] Members and elections
The Parliament of the German-speaking Community has 25 members who are directly elected every 5 years, together with the elections for the European Parliament. These members are the only members who have the right to speak and to vote. In addition, there are also a number of members with a consultative vote who not actual members of the Parliament, but do have the right to attend and participate in its meetings.
The advisory members are the Provincial Councillors of Liège, the members of the Walloon Parliament, the members of the Chamber of Representatives and the members of the Senate who reside in the German-speaking area of Belgium and have taken the oath of office in German, as well as the Member of the European Parliament elected by the German-speaking electoral college.
[edit] History
Since October 1973 the German-speaking Community has its own parliament, which was at that time known as the Council of the German Cultural Community (German: Rat der deutschen Kulturgemeinschaft. In 1973, the members were not directly-elected, but the distribution of seats was determined by the election results for the national Parliament. However, in March 1974, the first direct elections for the Council of the German Cultural Community took place. The name of the parliament was changed to Council of the German-speaking Community (German: Rat der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft) in 1984, and to Parliament of the German-speaking Community in 2004.
[edit] Current composition
| Affiliation | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| Christlich Soziale Partei (CSP) | 8 | |
| Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt-Mouvement Réformateur (PFF-MR) | 5 | |
| Sozialistische Partei (SP) | 5 | |
| Partei der Deutschsprachigen Belgier, Juropa and Independents (PJU-PDB) | 3 | |
| Ecolo-Partei | 2 | |
| Vivant | 2 | |
One of its members, currently Berni Collas, is elected to the Belgian Senate by the Parliament as the Community Senator for the German-speaking Community.
The current Speaker of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community is Ludwig Siquet of the Sozialistische Partei.
[edit] Committees
The Parliament of the German-speaking Community currently has 5 committees:
- Committee I on General Policy, Local Government, Petitions, Finances and Cooperation
- Committee II on Culture
- Committee III on Education and Training
- Committee IV on Health, Employment and Social Affairs
- Oversight Committee on Electoral Expenditure and Communications of the Public Authorities of the German-speaking Community
[edit] External links
- Parlament der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft — Official site of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.
- Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft — Official site of the German-speaking Community.
