Consultative Committee (Belgium)

The Consultative Committee (German: Konzertierungsausschuss, French: Comité de concertation, Dutch: Overlegcomité) is an organ in which representatives of the various Belgian governments sit to consult and prevent or settle conflicts.

Due to the state reform, Belgium currently has 6 governments. In order to maintain some coherence in policy, it was necessary to create a body in which the various governments can meet regularly and consult. The Consultative Committee was set up for the purpose.

In the composition of this committee, a double parity is used: there are as many Flemish-speaking as French-speaking people and as many members of the federal government as of the governments of the communities and regions of Belgium. In concrete terms, the following people sit on the Consultative Committee

• the prime minister, who chairs the meeting
• five members of the federal government
• de minister-president of Flanders
• a minister of the Flemish Government
• de minister-president of the French Community
• de minister-president of Walloon
• de minister-president of the Brussels Capital Region
• a minister of the Brussels Capital Region government, of the language community the Prime Minister does not belong to (in practice, therefore, of the Dutch language group)
• when a matter concerns the German-speaking Community of Belgium, the Minister-President of the German-speaking Community also attends the meeting

Decisions are made by consensus consensus.

For example, the Consultative Committee is important in preventing conflicts of competence and resolving conflicts of interest. The Consultative Committee also came to the fore in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it accompanied or took over decisions of the National Security Council,^[1] and again during the energy crisis.