Federal Public Services

The Federal Government of Belgium (Dutch: Federale regering, French: Gouvernement fédéral, German: Föderalregierung) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior", or deputy-ministers who do not sit in the Council of Ministers) drawn from the political parties which form the governing coalition. Formally, the ministers are appointed by the King. The federal government is led by the Prime Minister of Belgium, and Ministers lead ministries of the government. Ministers together form the Council of Ministers, which is the supreme executive organ of the Government (equivalent to a cabinet).

At the federal level, executive power is wielded by the Federal Government, whilst the Prime Minister is the head of the government. Each minister heads a ministry, and secretaries of state, who are deputy to a minister, help run these ministries. The government reflects the weight of political parties that constitute the current governing coalition for the Chamber. No single party or party family across linguistic lines holds an absolute majority of seats in Parliament.

The number of ministers is limited to 15, equally divided between French-speaking and Dutch-speaking ministers, according to Article 99 of the Constitution. Although the Prime Minister is officially exempt from this quota, no francophones held the post from 1979 to 2011. Government meetings are conducted through simultaneous interpreters.

The Prime Minister and his ministers administer the government and the various Federal Public Services (roughly equivalent to ministries in other countries’ administrative organization). As in the United Kingdom, ministers must defend their policies and performance in person before the Chamber.

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