Constitution (2004)

REFERENDUMS HELD ON EUROPEAN MATTERS: None

CONSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS - Constitution of Belgium

Binding referendum requires implementation by constitutional amendment. Consultative referendum can anyhow be held if ordered by ad-hoc-law.

ARTICLES ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TREATIES, REFERENDUM AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

Regulation about a special transference of power to EU:
none

Approval of transfer of sovereignty without effect of constitutional amendment:
Majority of members from both chambers, Art. 167 § 2, 53 ConstBelgium.

Approval of transfer of sovereignty with effect of constitutional amendment:
Not expressly regulated, but constitutional amendment required.

Approval of constitutional amendment:
Majority of at least 2/3 of votes from both chambers by presence of at least 2/3 of their members after disbandment of both chambers and their re-election, Art. 195 ConstBelgium.

Other constitutional regulations about referendums:
none

RATING AND DEBATE

• On 05.03.2008 the Belgian senate gave its backing to the Lisbon treaty opening the way for ratification by Belgium by mid-summer. The lower house of the federal parliament and Belgium's five regional and community assemblies still have to approve the treaty before Belgium can formally ratify it.
• On 10.07.2008 the Flemish parliament voted in favour of the Lisbon treaty (78 lawmakers voted in favour, 22 against and three abstained) closing the parliamentary procedure in Belgium. The Flemish parliament was the last of Belgium's seven assemblies that needed to vote following approval by the two chambers of federal parliament and the four other regional or community assemblies. "As a founding member of the Union, it was very important for Prime Minister Yves Leterme that Belgium could ratify the Lisbon Treaty," his spokesman Peter Poulussen told AFP, congratulating the seven parliaments. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also congratulated Belgium, thanking authorities "for their strong support for the treaty." "We are privileged to have the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, which is rightly known as the capital of Europe, and I want to thank the Belgian fovernment for the continuing support for the European project," he said.

PROCEDURE

Parliamentary vote

STATE OF THE PROCEDURE

The parliamentary ratification was held on the 10.04.2008 in the Senate (48 votes in for, 8 against, 1 abstention) and on the 03.03.2008 in the Chamber of Deputies (116 votes for, 18 against, 7 abstentions).

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