The Wallonia-Brussels Federation, in charge of Belgium's French Community, will improve the transparency of its parliamentary budget with multiple measures that should help deter the misuse of public funds by officials, as Walloon MPs had done during a trip to Dubai.
These changes were approved by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s parliamentary bureau on Tuesday and are set to massively impact the French Community’s legislative body.
Firstly, the meetings dedicated to the parliamentary budget will now be open to the public, having previously been held behind closed doors. Once decided, the commitments and investments set out in the budget will be regularly communicated by the parliamentary bureau on a trimestrial basis.
Secondly, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation will now submit the accounts of its parliament to the Belgian Court of Audit, which will provide external oversight of the community’s legislative budget.
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Finally, the parliament will also set up a register of the organisation representatives and lobbyists who meet with the French Community’s MPs, as is already the case in the Federal Parliament.
These measures will come into effect once the parliament returns from summer recess in September and will shake up the parliamentary process. They should also help rein in the excesses of MPs, similar to those seen in the Walloon Parliament where former President Jean-Luc Macourt had to resign after his misuse of public funds for a visit to Dubai was uncovered.
