Concept

Flemish Parliament

Summary
The Flemish Parliament (Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or Vlaamse Raad) constitutes the legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and as a cultural community of Belgium (unlike the French Community and Wallonia, which each have separate legislatures: the Parliament of the French Community and the Parliament of Wallonia). The Flemish Parliament approves decrees, which are Flemish laws, applicable to all persons in the Flemish Region, and to Flemish institutions in Brussels; it appoints and supervises the Flemish Government; and it approves the Flemish budget. The Flemish Parliament meets in the Flemish Parliament building in central Brussels, and its members and staff are housed in the House of the Flemish Representatives. From 1830 until 1970 Belgium was a unitary state with a single government and a bicameral national parliament. The laws issued by Parliament applied to all Belgians, and government ministers exercised their authority across the length and breadth of the country. Between 1970 and 2001 the Belgian Parliament approved five successive constitutional reforms. Slowly they changed Belgium from a unitary into a federal state. Part of this was to give the communities and later the regions, their own parliaments. On 7 December 1971 the Cultural Council for the Dutch-speaking Cultural Community held its first meeting; later followed a parliament for the Flemish Region. Flanders decided as early as 1980 to merge the Flemish Community with the Flemish Region. As a result, Flanders now has a single parliament and a single government with competence over community as well as over regional matters. This Parliament was called the Vlaamse Raad until it was officially renamed Vlaams Parlement (Flemish Parliament) on 13 June 1995. Over the last thirty years, Flanders has thus developed into a separate state within the federalised Belgium. Members are called "Vlaamse Volksvertegenwoordigers".
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