Reformist Movement
Mouvement Réformateur
AbbreviationMR
PresidentGeorges-Louis Bouchez
Founded24 March 2002 (2002-03-24)
Merger ofLiberal Reformist Party
Citizens' Movement for Change
Democratic Front of Francophones (2002–2010)
HeadquartersNational Secretariat
Avenue de la Toison D'Or 84-86
1060
Brussels, Belgium
Think tankCentre Jean Gol
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right[6][7]
Regional affiliationLiberal Group[8]
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
International affiliationLiberal International
European Parliament groupRenew Europe
Flemish counterpartOpen VLD
German-speaking counterpartParty for Freedom and Progress
Colours  Blue
Chamber of Representatives
(French-speaking seats)
14 / 61
Senate
(French-speaking seats)
8 / 24
Walloon Parliament
20 / 75
Parliament of the French Community
30 / 94
Parliament of the German-speaking Community
3 / 25
Brussels Parliament
(French-speaking seats)
18 / 72
European Parliament
(French-speaking seats)
2 / 8
Benelux Parliament
2 / 21
Website
www.mr.be

The Reformist Movement[9][10] (French: Mouvement Réformateur, MR) is a liberal[1][2][3] French-speaking political party in Belgium. MR is traditionally a conservative-liberal party,[4][5] but it also contains social-liberal factions.[11][12][13]

The party was in coalition as part of the Michel Government and then the Wilmès Government from October 2014, having provided two prime ministers since. After the 2007 general election the MR was the largest Francophone political formation in Belgium, a position that was regained by the Socialist Party in the 2010 general election. It currently serves as part of the seven party De Croo Government.

The MR is an alliance between three French-speaking and one German-speaking liberal parties. The Liberal Reformist Party (PRL) and the Francophone Democratic Federalists (FDF) started the alliance in 1993, and were joined in 1998 by the Citizens' Movement for Change (MCC). The alliance was then known as the PRL-FDF-MCC federation. The alliance became the MR during a congress in 2002, where the German-speaking liberal party, the Party for Freedom and Progress joined as well.[14] The label PRL is no longer used, and the three other parties still use their own names. The MR is a member of Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party. However, on 25 September 2011, the FDF decided to leave the coalition. They did not agree with the manner in which president Charles Michel defended the rights of the French-speaking people in the agreement concerning the splitting of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district, during the 2010–11 Belgian government formation.[15]

Ideology and policies

Although the MR's original ideology emphasised classical liberalism and free market economics, it joined the general trend of Belgian liberals to accept elements of social liberalism under the influence of Dirk Verhofstadt, whose brother Guy Verhofstadt led the MR's Flemish counterpart, the Open VLD.[13] However, during Georges-Louis Bouchez's tenure as party president, the party shifted to the right.[16]

On its current platform, the party states that it is economically and socially liberal. It supports lower taxes, aims to maximize the well-being of citizens but also wants to fight tax evasion. MR also supports Belgian participation in the European Union and NATO.[17]

Presidents

Representation in EU Institutions

In the European Parliament, Mouvement Réformateur sits in the Renew Europe group with two MEPs.[18][19]

In the European Committee of the Regions, Mouvement Réformateur sits in the Renew Europe CoR group, with one full and one alternate member for the 2020-2025 mandate.[20][21] Willy Borsus is second vice-president of the Renew Europe CoR Group.[22]

Electoral results

Chamber of Representatives

Election Votes  % Seats +/- Government
1995 623,250 10.3
19 / 150
 Opposition
1999 630,219 10.1
18 / 150
 Decrease 1 Coalition
2003 748,954 11.4
24 / 150
 Increase 6 Coalition
2007 835,073 12.5
23 / 150
 Decrease 1 Coalition
2010 605,617 9.3
18 / 150
 Decrease 5 Coalition
2014 650,260 9.6
20 / 150
 Increase 2 Coalition
2019 512,825 7.6
14 / 150
 Decrease 6 Coalition

Senate

Election Votes  % Seats +/-
1995 672,798 11.2
5 / 40
1999 654,961 10.6
5 / 40
 Steady 0
2003 795,757 12.2
5 / 40
 Steady 0
2007 815,755 12.3
6 / 40
 Increase 1
2010 599,618 9.3
4 / 40
 Decrease 2

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Election Votes  % Seats +/- Government
F.E.C. Overall
1989 83,011 18.9 (#2)
15 / 75
 Opposition
1995 144,478 35.0 (#1)
28 / 75
 Increase 13 Coalition
1999 146,845 40.1 (#1) 34.4 (#1)
27 / 75
 Decrease 1 Coalition
2004 127,122 32.5 (#2) 28.0 (#2)
25 / 89
 Decrease 2 Opposition
2009 121,905 29.8 (#1) 26.5 (#1)
24 / 89
 Decrease 1 Opposition
2014 94,227 23.0 (#2) 20.4 (#2)
18 / 89
 Decrease 6 Opposition
2019 65,502 16.9 (#3) 14.3 (#3)
13 / 89
 Decrease 5 Opposition

Walloon Parliament

Election Votes  % Seats +/- Government
1995 447,542 23.7 (#2)
19 / 75
 Opposition
1999 470,454 24.7 (#2)
21 / 75
 Increase 2 Coalition
2004 478,999 24.3 (#2)
20 / 75
 Decrease 1 Opposition
2009 469,792 23.1 (#2)
19 / 75
 Decrease 1 Opposition
2014 546,363 26.7 (#2)
25 / 75
 Increase 6 Opposition
2019 435,878 21.4 (#2)
20 / 75
 Decrease 5 Coalition

European Parliament

Election Votes  % Seats +/-
F.E.C. Overall
1979 372,904 17.8 (#4) 6.8
2 / 24
1984 540,610 24.1 (#2)
3 / 24
 Increase 1
1989 423,479 18.9 (#2) 7.2
2 / 24
 Decrease 1
1994 541,724 24.2 (#2)
3 / 25
 Increase 1
1999 624,445 27.0 (#1) 10.0
3 / 25
 Steady 0
2004 671,422 27.6 (#2) 10.3
3 / 24
 Steady 0
2009 640,092 26.0 (#2) 9.7
2 / 22
 Decrease 1
2014 661,332 27.1 (#2) 9.9
3 / 22
 Increase 1
2019 470,654 19.3 (#3) 7.1
2 / 22
 Decrease 1

Notable figures

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Wallonia/Belgium". Parties and Elections in Europe.
  2. 1 2 Almeida, Dimitri. "Liberal Parties and European Integration" (PDF).
  3. 1 2 Colin Hay; Anand Menon (18 January 2007). European Politics. Oxford University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-19-928428-3.
  4. 1 2 Hans Slomp (30 September 2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 465. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  5. 1 2 Peter Starke; Alexandra Kaasch; Franca Van Hooren (7 May 2013). The Welfare State as Crisis Manager: Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-137-31484-0.
  6. ↑ Josep M. Colomer (2008). Comparative European Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-203-94609-1. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Rik Pinxten (2006). "Neo-nationalism and Democracy in Belgium: On understanding the contexts of neo-communitarianism". In André Gingrich; Marcus Banks (eds.). Neo-nationalism in Europe and Beyond: Perspectives from Social Anthropology. Berghahn Books. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-84545-190-5.
  8. ↑ "Politieke fracties". Benelux Parliament (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  9. ↑ Walsh, David (2 October 2020). "Belgium: New seven-party coalition government officially sworn in". Euronews. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  10. ↑ Birnbaum, Michael (20 December 2019). "Without a government for a year, Belgium shows what happens to politics without politicians". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  11. ↑ Chardon, Frédéric. "Des libéraux veulent créer un courant progressiste au MR: avec Christine Defraigne à leur tête?". La Libre.be (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  12. ↑ "RLP, le nouveau «Rassemblement des libéraux progressistes» au sein du MR". Le Soir (in French). 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  13. 1 2 Dimitri Almeida (2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-415-69374-5.
  14. ↑ "Le Mouvement Réformateur: Statuts" (PDF) (in French). The Reformist Movement. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
  15. ↑ "FDF almost unanimously votes in favour of split with MR" (in Dutch). deredactie.be. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
  16. ↑ Chini, Maïthé; Taylor, Lukas (January 11, 2023). "A beginner's guide to Belgium's political parties". The Brussels Times. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Projet - MR". Mr.be. 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  18. ↑ "Home | Olivier CHASTEL | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  19. ↑ "Home | Frédérique RIES | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  20. ↑ "Members Page CoR".
  21. ↑ "Members Page CoR".
  22. ↑ "Bureau". Renew Europe CoR. Retrieved 2021-04-12.

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