Proposals for a constitutional reform – failed but interesting

Since the last federal general elections, held on 13 June 2010, the Belgian federal level still has no ruling coalition. Talks have been going on for 239 days without any perspective for a government to be form in the near future.

Professor in law and minister of state Johan Vande Lanotte lead the discussions for the biggest part. His proposal, which was ultimately not acceptable for the Flemish nationalists and the Flemish Christian-democrats and was substantially questioned by the French-speaking social-democrats and Christian-democrats, was published last week in the French-speaking newspapers Le Soir and La Libre Belgique.

In the field of energy, the proposal aimed at the regionalisation of the setting and supervision of the regulated tariffs for the use of the natural gas and electricity distribution systems. Although the regions are competent for the distribution of electricity, up to now it was the federal regulator that approved the distribution tariffs.

At the request of the Flemish parties, the proposal wanted to implicate the Flemish region in the offshore energy activities. [As from the low water mark, the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone are federal competence.]

The proposal remained a proposal, as in 2007.

Proposals for a constitutional reform – failed but interesting