Di Rupo Government: Difference between revisions

The '''Di Rupo Government''' is the present federal [[cabinet of Belgium]] which was sworn in on 6 December 2011,<ref>{{nl icon}} {{cite web|url=http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20111206_064|title=Regering Di Rupo I legt de eed af|date=6 December 2011|accessdate=6 December 2011|work=[[De Standaard]]}}</ref> after a record-breaking 541 days of [[2010–2011 Belgian government formation|negotiations]] following the [[Belgian federal election, 2010|June 2010 elections]]. The government includes social democrats ([[Socialistische Partij Anders|sp.a]]/[[Parti Socialiste (Belgium)|PS]]), Christian democrats ([[Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams|CD&V]]/[[Centre démocrate humaniste|cdH]]) and liberals ([[Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten|Open Vld]]/[[Mouvement Réformateur|MR]]), respectively of the Dutch and French language groups. The government notably excludes the [[New Flemish Alliance]] (N-VA), the Flemish nationalist party which achieved a [[plurality (voting)|plurality]] and became the largest party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15978423|title=Belgium close to governing coalition after 18-month gap|publisher=BBC|date=1 December 2011}}</ref> Its absence, together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties, causes the government coalition to lack a majority in the Dutch language group. It is the first time that the Belgian prime minister has been openly gay and the world's [[List of the first LGBT holders of political offices|first male openly gay]] [[head of government]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Jackson|first=Patrick|title=Profile: Belgium's Elio Di Rupo|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15983739|publisher=BBC|accessdate=8 December 2011}}</ref> Belgium is thus the second European country to have a [[homosexual]] prime minister, after [[Iceland]] ([[Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir]]). [[Elio Di Rupo]] is the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the first prime minister from [[Walloons|Wallonia]] since 1974.▼

The negotiations aimed to put an end to the [[2007–2011 Belgian political crisis]] and included a [[Sixth Belgian state reform|sixth state reform]], including the partition of the electoral and judicial arrondissement of [[Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde]] and the transfer of new powers from the federal level to the regions. Because a state reform requires a two-third majority, the [[green politics|green]] parties ([[Groen (political party)|Groen]]/[[Ecolo]]) participated in these negotiations but are not in the government coalition.▼

===Change in composition===▼

Following the [[Belgian provincial and municipal elections, 2012|2012 Belgian provincial and municipal elections]], ministers [[Paul Magnette]] and [[Vincent Van Quickenborne]] were both elected as mayor, of [[Charleroi]] and [[Kortrijk]] respectively. As a result, Van Quickenborne resigned on 17 October 2012 and was replaced as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Pensions by [[Alexander De Croo]], who took the oath of office on 22 October 2012. Magnette remained in his position as Minister of Public Enterprises, Scientific Policy and Development Cooperation until 17 January 2013, when he formally resigned and his successor [[Jean-Pascal Labille]] became Minister of Public Enterprises and Development Cooperation. Secretary of state Philippe Courard took over the competence of Scientific Policy from Magnette.▼