Martens VI Government

The Belgian Martens VI government was in office from November 28, 1985 to October 21, 1987. On December 7, 1985 she received the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies and on December 10, 1985 that of the Senate . It consisted of fifteen ministers (including the prime minister) and thirteen state secretaries.

This sixth government, led by Wilfried Martens (CVP), was made up of Flemish and Francophone Christian Socials ( CVP and PSC ) and Liberals ( PVV and PRL ). The Martens VI government was the successor to the Martens V government , which was also composed of Christian Socials and Liberals. In the elections of October 13, 1985, which took place in a climate of fear of the terrorist organization Cellules Communistes Combattantes (CCC), both the Christian Socials and the Liberals of the outgoing majority were confirmed and the coalition was thus able to continue.

During its tenure, personnel changes were made twice in the Martens VI government. First, Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb (PSC) left the government because of the affair surrounding the municipality of Voeren (Nothomb had rashly appointed his colleague of the Action Fouronaise Roger Wynants as mayor in the Flemish municipality with language relief in place of the controversial José Happart ; however, he refused the office from). André Damseaux later resigned from office due to tensions with the party (PRL) and in the government.

In 1987 the dispute over Voeren and the appointment of Happart as mayor and first lay judge - which was suspended or canceled several times by the governor of Limburg and finally by the Dutch-speaking section of the State Council - again became a problem for the Martens government VI so that the CVP issued an ultimatum to resolve the problem. Because of the Voeren question, Martens had already offered his resignation in 1986, but the king had refused at that time. This time, however, the coalition was unable to negotiate a common position and Prime Minister Martens was therefore forced to resign definitively on October 19, 1987. In view of the new elections and constitutional reform, the Martens VII interim government was formed on October 21, 1987, with the same composition.

composition

minister	Surname	Political party
prime minister	Wilfried Martens	CVP
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Institutional Reform	Jean Gol	PRL
Minister for Internal Affairs, Civil Service and Decentralization until October 18, 1986: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Internal Affairs, Civil Service and Decentralization	Joseph Michel until October 18, 1986: Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb	PSC PSC
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for the Budget, Science Policy and Planning	Guy Verhofstadt	PVV
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Affairs until October 18, 1986: Minister for Economic Affairs	Philippe Maystadt	PSC
Minister for Foreign Affairs	Leo Tindemans	CVP
Minister of Finance	Mark Eyskens	CVP
Minister for Public Works	Louis Olivier	PRL
Minister for Transport and Foreign Trade	Herman De Croo	PVV
Minister for Employment and Labor	Michel Hansenne	PSC
Minister for National Education (N)	Daniel Coens	CVP
Minister for Social Affairs and Institutional Reform	Jean-Luc Dehaene	CVP
Minister of Defense and Minister of the Brussels Region	François-Xavier de Donnea	PRL
Minister for the Middle Class	Jacky Buchmann	PVV
Minister for National Education (F)	Antoine Duquesne until March 9, 1987: André Damseaux	PRL PRL
State Secretaries	Surname	Political party
State Secretary for Development Cooperation	André Kempinaire	PVV
State Secretary for Foreign Trade	Etienne Knoops	PRL
State Secretary for Pensions	Pierre Mainil	PSC
State Secretary for Post, Telegraph and Telephone	Paula D'Hondt	CVP
State Secretary for European Affairs and Agriculture	Paul De Keersmaeker	CVP
State Secretary for Energy	Firmin Aerts	CVP
State Secretary for Justice and SMEs	Georges Mundeleer	PRL
State Secretary for the Brussels Region	Jan Bascour	PVV
State Secretary for the Modernization and Informatization of the Public Service	Guy Lutgen	PSC
State Secretary for the Public Service and Science Policy	Louis Bril	PVV
State Secretary for the Brussels Region	Jean-Louis Thys	PSC
State Secretary for Environment and Social Emancipation	Rent Smet	CVP
State Secretary for Public Health and Disability Policy	Wivina Demeester	CVP

Web links

Premier.be - Official website of the Belgian Prime Minister (multilingual)