The Clerk of the Brussels Parliament has been tasked with listing the circumstances under which a provision of the Special Brussels Act can be invoked to appoint the region’s government through secret, individual votes.
The task was assigned by the Expanded Bureau of the Parliament, which prepares plenary sessions and acts as an internal consultation body.
The Parti Socialiste (PS) had proposed the emergency measure last week to unblock the formation of the Brussels Government, but it was ruled inadmissible. the proposal by Brussels PS President Ahmed Laaouej was based on Article 35, Paragraph 2 of the Special Brussels Act. This article offers a solution if Parliament fails to agree on a proposed government team.
However, the Clerk deemed the proposal inadmissible on the same day. The PS disagreed with this ruling, and on Wednesday, the party found a majority in the Expanded Bureau to study the conditions under which the provision could be activated.
The Socialists received support from Vooruit, the Belgian Workers Party (PVDA), Ecolo, and DéFI.
Les Engagés, Groen, and Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) abstained from voting, while the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) and Open VLD voted against.
N-VA Member of Parliament Gilles Verstraeten described the task as a “pointless” exercise. “All legal advice and statements from constitutional experts, except those summoned by the PS, confirm that the services were correct. There is no legal controversy,” he said.
Verstraeten argued that Brussels has a political problem that can only be solved through negotiation and agreements, “not by forcing alternative interpretations of the rules, not by creating a false constitutional crisis, and certainly not by undermining the credibility of the parliamentary administration.”
