De Croo Government

98th Cabinet of Belgium (since 1830)
Incumbent
Date formed1 October 2020
People and organisations
Head of statePhilippe of Belgium
Head of governmentAlexander De Croo
No. of ministers15
Member parties
Status in legislature
  • Majority coalition
  • 87 / 150
Opposition parties
History
Election(s)2019 Belgian federal election
Legislature term(s)2019–2024
PredecessorWilmès II
Distribution of seats in the Chamber of Representatives.

The De Croo Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo since 1 October 2020.

History

The creation of the De Croo Government occurred on 1 October 2020, 494 days after the 2019 Belgian federal election of May 2019 as the 2019–20 Belgian government formation had been again a difficult process. The government replaced the minority Wilmès II Government, which was a temporary government instated to handle the consequences of the coronavirus outbreak. The De Croo Government is a so-called Vivaldi coalition, named after composer Antonio Vivaldi due to his work The Four Seasons which corresponds to the four different political views present in this coalition: the liberals (Open Vld and MR), the socialists (Vooruit and PS), the greens (Groen and Ecolo) and the Christian democrats of CD&V.

Most notably this government doesn't have a majority in the Flemish language group, as the two largest political parties in Flanders (and simultaneously in all of Belgium) are part of the opposition: N-VA and Vlaams Belang. Other opposition parties are the Francophone parties Les Engagés (known as cdH until March 2022) and DéFI and the nationwide PVDA-PTB.[1]

Composition

The Constitution requires an equal number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers (regardless of the Prime Minister) and with all parties requiring some positions, the number of members in the Government has increased considerably, from 12 to 14 ministers with an additional 5 extra Secretaries of State for a total of 7 extra members in the Government compared to the previous Wilmès II Government.

With several new parties coming in to the government and many existing parties replacing their ministers, only three ministers remain which were already present in the Wilmès II Government: Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (who was Minister of Development Cooperation, Finance and fighting Fiscal Fraud), the previous Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès who now becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs and David Clarinval who moves from Minister of Budget, Civil Service, National Lottery and Scientific Policy to Minister of the Middle Class, SMEs, Self-employed, Agriculture, and Institutional Affairs. A large number of government members were relatively unknown at the time of their appointment, as several parties decided to opt for new faces instead of familiar ones. One notable returnee is Frank Vandenbroucke who, after a nine-year break from politics, returns to become Minister of Health and Social Affairs, and has held multiple positions in the period 1994–2009, including Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Social Affairs, Labor, and Pensions.

PortfolioMinisterTook officeLeft officeParty
Prime Minister
Prime Minister
(from 22 April 2022 until 14 July 2022 also acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs (replacing Sophie Wilmès))		1 October 2020Incumbent Open Vld
Deputy Prime Ministers
Minister of Economy and Employment1 October 2020Incumbent PS
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions
(absent from 22 April 2022 until 14 July 2022, replaced by colleagues De Croo, Clarinval and Michel)		1 October 202014 July 2022 MR
Minister of the Small Businesses, Self-Employed, SMEs and Agriculture, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal
(from 22 April 2022 until 14 July 2022 also acting Minister of Foreign Trade and Deputy Prime Minister for the MR (replacing Sophie Wilmès))		22 April 2022Incumbent MR
Minister of Mobility1 October 2020Incumbent Ecolo
Minister of Finance, in charge of the Coordination of the Fight against Fraud1 October 2020Incumbent CD&V
Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health
(from 19 October 2022 until 16 December 2022 also acting Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy (replacing Meryame Kitir))		1 October 2020Incumbent Vooruit
Minister of Civil Service, Public Enterprises, Telecommunication and Postal Services1 October 2020Incumbent Groen
Minister of Justice and the North Sea1 October 202020 October 2023 Open Vld
Minister of Justice and the North Sea
Paul Van Tigchelt
22 October 2023Incumbent Open Vld
Ministers
Minister of the Small Businesses, Self-Employed, SMEs and Agriculture, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal1 October 202021 April 2022 MR
Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions15 July 2022Incumbent MR
Minister of Pensions and Social Integration, in charge of Persons with Disabilities, Combating Poverty and Beliris1 October 2020Incumbent PS
Minister of Defence1 October 2020Incumbent PS
Minister of Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal1 October 2020Incumbent Ecolo
Minister of the Interior, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal1 October 2020Incumbent CD&V
Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy
(absent from 19 October 2022 until 16 December 2022, replaced by colleague Vandenbroucke)		1 October 202016 December 2022 Vooruit
Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy17 December 2022Incumbent Vooruit
Minister of Energy1 October 2020Incumbent Groen
Secretaries of State
Secretary of State for Recovery and Strategic Investments, in charge of Science Policy
Deputy to the Minister of the Economy and Employment
Thomas Dermine
1 October 2020Incumbent PS
Secretary of State for Digitization, in charge of Administrative Simplification, Privacy and Buildings Administration
(from 22 April 2022 until 14 July 2022 also acting Secretary of State for Federal Cultural Institutions (replacing Sophie Wilmès))
Deputy to the Prime Minister		1 October 2020Incumbent MR
Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity
Deputy to the Minister of Mobility		1 October 202026 April 2023 Ecolo
Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity
Deputy to the Minister of Mobility		2 May 2023Incumbent Ecolo
Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, in charge of the National Lottery
Deputy to the Minister of the Interior, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal		1 October 202027 June 2022 CD&V
Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, in charge of the National Lottery
Deputy to the Minister of the Interior, Institutional Reforms and Democratic Renewal		28 June 2022Incumbent CD&V
Secretary of State for Budget and Consumer Protection
Deputy to the Minister of Justice and the North Sea
Eva De Bleeker
1 October 202018 November 2022 Open Vld
Secretary of State for Budget and Consumer Protection
Deputy to the Minister of Justice and the North Sea
Alexia Bertrand
18 November 2022Incumbent Open Vld

Changes in composition

  • On 21 April 2022, Sophie Wilmès took a temporary leave of absence for personal reasons. Officially she remains in office as both Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, however, in reality all her duties have been taken over by other members of the cabinet from 22 April 2022. Prime minister Alexander De Croo is the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of European Affairs, David Clarinval took over her duties as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade, and finally Mathieu Michel took over the portfolio of Federal Cultural Institutions.[2] On July 14, 2022, Wilmès resigned definitively as a member of the De Croo government, with all her portfolios allocated to newcomer Hadja Lahbib, although David Clarinval kept the position of Deputy Prime Minister for the MR.[3]
  • On 27 June 2022, Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi was replaced by Nicole de Moor, as Mahdi had been elected the new party president of CD&V.[4]
  • After a first revision of the budget after errors and a new proposal containing different errors, Secretary of State for Budget Eva De Bleeker offered her resignation on 18 November 2022 and was immediately replaced by Alexia Bertrand. Bertrand is a member of the French speaking liberals of MR, but was invited to become a party member as well for the Flemish speaking liberals of Open Vld, allowing her to take up the position.[5]
  • Vooruit announced on 17 December 2022 that Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy Meryame Kitir, who had been on sick leave already for nearly two months at that point, would not be returning and is now officially replaced by Caroline Gennez.[6]
  • On 23 April 2023, Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunities and Diversity Sarah Schlitz resigned following a week of criticism mainly centered around the use of a personal logo in governmental projects (thus promoting herself with tax money which is forbidden), lying about having requested the logo to be used and on top of that one of her staff members compared the New Flemish Alliance with Nazism.[7] Schlitz' party Ecolo appointed Marie-Colline Leroy as her successor and she was sworn in on 2 May 2023.[8]
  • Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne resigned on 20 October 2023, a few days after the 2023 Brussels shooting, as it turned out an error had been made as Tunisia had asked already in 2022 to transfer the perpetrator but the dossier had not been processed.[9]. Two days later, Open Vld appointed Paul Van Tigchelt to replace him [10] causing former party president Gwendolyn Rutten to announce her immediate retirement from national politics.[11]

References

  1. ↑ VRT NWS (2020-09-30). "7 partijen hebben een inhoudelijk akkoord om samen te regeren: dit weten we daar al over" [7 parties have an internal agreement to govern: this is what we know already]. vrtnws.be (in Flemish). Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  2. ↑ vrtnws.be (21 April 2022). "Sophie Wilmès (MR) stopt voorlopig als minister door ziekte man, premier De Croo neemt Buitenlandse Zaken over" [Sophie Wilmès (MR) temporarily quits as Minister due to husband's illness, Prime Minister De Croo takes over Foreign Affairs].
  3. ↑ "Sophie Wilmès (MR) stopt definitief als minister van Buitenlandse Zaken door ziekte echtgenoot". VRT (in Dutch). 2022-07-14.
  4. ↑ vrtnws.be (27 June 2022). "CD&V verrast met nieuwe staatssecretaris voor Asiel en Migratie: wie is Nicole de Moor?" [CD&V surprises with choice for new Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration: who is Nicole de Moor?].
  5. ↑ vrtnws.be (18 November 2022). "Staatssecretaris Eva De Bleeker (Open VLD) neemt ontslag na nieuwe fouten in begroting, opvolger Alexia Bertrand stapt over van MR naar Open VLD" [Secretary of State Eva De Bleeker (Open VLD) resigns after new errors in budget, successor Alexia Bertrand comes over from MR to Open VLD].
  6. ↑ vrtnws.be (17 December 2022). "Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) vervangt Meryame Kitir als minister van Ontwikkelingssamenwerking" [Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) replaces Meryame Kitir as minister of Development Cooperation].
  7. ↑ vrtnws.be (26 April 2023). ""The situation is untenable": State Secretary Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) resigns after fuss over use of personal logo" ["De situatie is onhoudbaar": Staatssecretaris Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo) neemt ontslag na heisa over gebruik persoonlijk logo] (in Dutch).
  8. ↑ vrtnws.be (2 May 2023). "Marie-Colline Leroy (Ecolo) legt eed af als staatssecretaris voor Gelijke Kansen" [Marie-Colline Leroy (Ecolo) sworn in as State Secretary of Equal Opportunities] (in Dutch).
  9. ↑ vrtnws.be (20 October 2023). "Minister van Justitie Vincent Van Quickenborne neemt ontslag in nasleep van aanslag in Brussel" [Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne resigns in aftermath of attack in Brussels] (in Dutch).
  10. ↑ vrtnws.be (22 October 2023). "Voormalig OCAD-topman Paul Van Tigchelt wordt de nieuwe minister van Justitie" [Former Threat Analysis Coordinating Body-head Paul Van Tigchelt becomes new Minister of Justice] (in Dutch).
  11. ↑ vrtnws.be (22 October 2023). "Oud-partijvoorzitter Gwendolyn Rutten (Open VLD) stopt met nationale politiek: "Respectloze behandeling door partijtop"" [Former party president Gwendolyn Rutten (Open VLD) stops with national politics: "Respectless treatment by head of party"] (in Dutch).
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