Proposition 50K1652

Projet de loi spéciale modifiant les articles 24bis et 50 de la loi spéciale du 8 août 1980 de réformes institutionnelles.

General information ¶

Submitted by

The Senate

Submission date

March 23, 2000

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Qualified

Subjects

regionalisation

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR

Voted to reject

N-VA FN VB

Party dissidents ¶

• Alfons Borginon (Open Vld) voted to reject.
• Els Van Weert (Vooruit) voted to reject.
• Pieter De Crem (CD&V) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 27, 2002 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. the President

I refer to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, this special bill, introduced by René Thissen to the Senate, responds to a concrete problem that arose the day after the elections of 13 June 1999.

I briefly recall the facts for those and those who would not know them. Keutgen and Stoffels, two German speakers, were candidates in the elections of 13 June 1999 to the Parliament of the Walloon Region and to the Council of the German Speaking Community. They were elected to the Walloon Parliament but not to the Council of the German-speaking Community. Indeed, they took an oath primarily in German, during the installation of the Wallon Parliament, and both logically refused to take an oath at the opening session of the Parliament of the French Community on 6 July 1999.

Article 50, second paragraph, of the special law of 8 August 1980, provides that: "Members of the Wallonian Regional Council, who have exclusively or primarily sworn in German, shall not participate in voting in the Council of the French Community or in the Wallonian Regional Council on matters falling within the competence of the French Community."

Thus, although they had taken an oath in German to the Wallonian Regional Council and were members of the Council of the French Community by their election to the Wallonian Parliament, they could enter office only after they had taken an oath in French in the following manner: "I swear to observe the Constitution", as provided for in Article 31 bis, paragraph 2 of the Special Act on Institutional Reforms.

This non-prestation of oath does not equate as such to a resignation but rather to an absence of entry into office.

It therefore follows from the situation described that to date, the Cons eil of the French Community is still not able to sit and deliberate in full, which does not pose a problem of legality of the decrees voted for the French Community but compromises the balance of distribution desired by the legislator, namely 75 Wallons and 19 Brussels.

I would like to remind for information that a problem of a similar nature had arisen the day after the regional elections of 21 May 1995 and that it also had to do with the composition of the Parliament of the French Community. Indeed, in the district of Verviers, a liberal candidate had presented himself in both the German-speaking Community and the Walloon Parliament elections. He had been elected in both Council and was therefore brought to sit full-right in the Parliament of the French Community. He was a member of two community councils.

To the extent that the special law prohibits such cumulative functions, he had chosen to swear to the German-speaking Community and the German-speaking community.

This draft special law addresses a concrete problem arising after the elections of 13 June 1999. Their

Two German-speaking people, the gentlemen Keutgen and Stoffels, were elected in the Walloon Parliament but not in the Council of the German-speaking Community. They first took the oath in German in the Wallish Parliament and refused to take the oath at the opening session of the Parliament of the French Community. Article 50, paragraph 2, of the Special Act of 8 August 1980 provides that, in such a case, the elected may not participate in the voting in the Council of the French Community and in the Wall Street on matters within the competence of the French Community. They could therefore enter office only after having sworn in French in accordance with the constitution.

This situation jeopardizes the balance desired by the legislature in the distribution of the mandates (75 Wallish and 19 Brussels members).

A similar problem had already arisen after the 1995 county elections. A liberal candidate from the arrondissement of Verviers was elected in two community councils and had sworn in the German-speaking Community, and had requested his deputy to be appointed in the Parliament of the French Community. Their

Sindsdien werd artikel 24bis, § 5, tweede lid van de bijzondere wet KAMER -4 E ZITTING VAN DE 50 E ZITTINGSPERIODE 2001 2002 CHAMBRE -4 E SESSION OF THE 50 E LEGISLATURE Walloon Region. He had indicated that he wanted to give his place to his deputy in the Parliament of the French Community.

The Commission for the Verification of Powers had refused on the grounds that the person who is elected to the Walloon Region must also sit in the French Community. Since then, and in order to prevent such a case from repeating, Article 24bis, §5, paragraph 2 of the Special Law has been amended. The person who is elected in the Council of the German-speaking Community and in the Walloon Parliament shall be replaced in the Parliament of the French Community by his deputy elected at the same time as him on the occasion of the elections of the Walloon Parliament.

The problems seem to succeed because, today, we have to resolve another case.

In order to respect the freedom of German-speaking members to swear in French or German and thus freely choose their community, it is important to remedy in a comprehensive way the situation that I have long explained in the introduction.

The solution found in the Senate Committee on Institutional Affairs, after receiving the opinion of the Legislative Section of the State Council, and after long discussions between representatives of all French-speaking parties – assisted in this by Professor Francis Delpérée who delivered his expertise on the issue during an audition – has thus received a very favorable vote in a plenary session in the Senate. The same was the case here in the House, during the vote in the Committee on the Revision of the Constitution and the Reform of the Institutions.

This solution allows to find a balance between respect for the choice of the language of oathing of the Wallon parliamentary and the balanced functioning of the Council of the French Community, as provided by the special law in its article 24, §3.

Article 24bis, §4 of the Special Law is supplemented by the following paragraph: "The mandate of a member of the Council of the French Community is incompatible with that of a member of the Wallon Regional Council when the representative concerned has exclusively or primarily sworn in German."

A supplementary paragraph also specifies, in article 24, §5, of the special law, that those who cannot assume their mandate under the preceding provision shall be replaced within the Council of the French Community by their alternates, elected at elections to the Wallon Regional Council from the same lists as those members, in the order in which they are elected from each of the above lists.

Article 50, second paragraph, of the same special law is replaced by a new provision: "Members of the Wallon Regional Council who have exclusively or primarily sworn in German do not participate in voting within the Wallon Regional Council on matters falling within the competence of the French Community."

Here, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, to those who would object that this situation pledges in favour of the creation of a fully German-speaking Region, I would answer that this is strictly impossible at the present time because the provisions relating to the regions are not subject to revision. That is why I hope that this proposal will gather the widest support because it seems to me that the proposed solution is simply common sense. by Wijzigd.

The person who is elected to the Council of the German-speaking Community and the Wallish Parliament shall be replaced in the Parliament of the French Community by his deputy who was elected together with him in the elections to the Wallish Parliament. Their

This problem had to be solved in its entirety. Professor Francis Delpérée has assisted us with his knowledge and experience and the Senate has therefore proposed us a solution based on incompatibility. To those who would argue that this is in favor of the establishment of a German-speaking Region, I answer that this is not currently possible given the current declaration of constitutional revision. In short, the solution found testifies only to common sense.

Chamber -4 E ZITTING VAN DE 50 E ZITTINGSPERIODE 2001 2002 Chamber -4 E SESSION OF THE 50 E LEGISLATURE

Mr. Speaker, I can only share Mr. Speaker’s speech full of wisdom and opportunity. and Langendries.

I can only add the wise words of President Langendries.