Two of the three Senate committees will be chaired by the N-VA and the Vlaams Belang
The N-VA and Vlaams Belang will chair two of the three Senate committees, we learned after a meeting of the Assembly Bureau.
Published on 09/30/2024 at 4:44 p.m.
During the legislature which is opening, three commissions will be set up: the Institutional Affairs Commission, chaired by the President of the Senate, Valérie De Bue (MR), the transversal skills commission between the federal government and the Communities and the commission on transversal skills between the federal government and the Regions. The Equal Opportunities advisory committee will report to the Community Skills Commission.
The two transversal skills commissions will be chaired respectively by a senator from the N-VA and another from Vlaams Belang under a distribution according to the Dhondt key. Traditionally, the person who presides over the Senate also chairs institutional affairs.
The Senate also has an Advisory Committee on European Questions and the Parliamentary Consultation Commission, but these are made up of senators and members of other assemblies.
The existence of the Senate in question
How will the elected representatives of the two Flemish nationalist parties carry out their mission? Both had refused to sit or had abstained from voting when the Senate took up issues which, according to them, do not strictly fall within its competence. The N-VA targeted resolution proposals and information reports on various subjects which should, according to it, have been dealt with in the parliaments of the federated entities or federally.
“We are in favor of a scenario of liquidation of the Senate. During the last legislature, the President of the Senate, Stephanie D’Hose (Open Vld), constantly tried to resuscitate him. For us, the final objective is the abolition of the Senate,” N-VA group leader Karl Vanlouwe recalled on Monday.
Flemish formation: the new government has taken the oath
The Flemish liberal contested this version of the facts. She recalled that under the previous legislature, the articles of the Constitution concerning the Senate were not open to revision, unlike the legislature which is beginning. From the first session, she also tabled a proposal to abolish the High Assembly.
