Government

federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy

System	federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy
Capital	Brussels
Head of state	King PHILIPPE (since 21 July 2013)
Head of government	Prime Minister Bart DE WEVER (since 3 February 2025)
Legislature	legislature name: Federal Parliament (Parlement fédéral - Federaal Parlement - Föderales Parlament); legislative structure: bicameral
Judiciary	highest court(s): Constitutional Court or Grondwettelijk Hof (in Dutch) and Cour Constitutionelle (in French) (consists of 12 judges - 6 Dutch-speaking and 6 French-speaking); Supreme Court of Justice or Hof van Cassatie (in Dutch) and Cour de Cassation (in French) (court organized into 3 chambers: civil and commercial; criminal; social, fiscal, and armed forces; each chamber includes a Dutch division and a French division, each with a chairperson and 5-6 judges); judge selection and term of office: Constitutional Court judges appointed by the monarch from candidates submitted by Parliament; judges appointed for life with mandatory retirement at age 70; Supreme Court judges appointed by the monarch from candidates submitted by the High Council of Justice, a 44-member independent body of judicial and non-judicial members; judges appointed for life; subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal; regional courts; specialized courts for administrative, commercial, labor, immigration, and audit issues; magistrate’s courts; justices of the peace
Constitution	history: drafted 25 November 1830, approved 7 February 1831, entered into force 26 July 1831, revised 14 July 1993 (creating a federal state); amendment process: “revisions” proposed as declarations by the federal government in accord with the king or by Parliament followed by dissolution of Parliament and new elections; adoption requires two-thirds majority vote of a two-thirds quorum in both houses of the next elected Parliament
Independence	4 October 1830 (a provisional government declared independence from the Netherlands); 21 July 1831 (King LEOPOLD I ascended to the throne)
Administrative divisions	3 regions (French: régions , singular - région ; Dutch: gewesten , singular - gewest ); Brussels-Capital Region, also known as Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (Dutch), R é gion de Bruxelles-Capitale (French long form), Bruxelles-Capitale (French short form); Flemish Region (Flanders), also known as Vlaams Gewest (Dutch long form), Vlaanderen (Dutch short form), Région Flamande (French long form), Flandre (French short form); Walloon Region (Wallonia), also known as Région Wallonne (French long form), Wallonie (French short form), Waals Gewest (Dutch long form), Wallonie (Dutch short form)

Departments

TODO. Ministries and authoritative sites, to be filled out.

Hierarchy

How power is wired. The diagram below carries the generic template; refine the boxes and edges to match the current regime.

        flowchart TD
  HoS["Head of State"]
  HoG["Head of Government"]
  Leg["Legislature"]
  Jud["Judiciary"]
  Cab["Cabinet"]
  Foreign["Foreign Affairs"]
  Interior["Interior"]
  Defense["Defense"]
  Finance["Finance"]
  Justice["Justice"]

  HoS --> HoG
  HoG --> Cab
  Cab --> Foreign
  Cab --> Interior
  Cab --> Defense
  Cab --> Finance
  Cab --> Justice
  HoS -.- Leg
  HoS -.- Jud
    

Resources

Public-facing portals the people use day to day. Operators monitor these for policy changes, official notices, and civil-registry data.

Resource	Site	Purpose
National portal	to be filled	One-stop government services for citizens.
Tax / revenue	to be filled	Income tax, VAT, customs.
Civil registry	to be filled	Births, deaths, marriages, national ID.
Immigration	to be filled	Visas, residency, naturalisation.
Health	to be filled	Public health, advisories, vaccination records.
Education	to be filled	Curricula, school directories, transcripts.
Statistics	to be filled	Census, economic indicators, opendata.
Police / emergency	to be filled	Reporting, missing persons, emergency contacts.