Government of Verhofstadt I

The Belgian government Verhofstadt I was in office from July 12, 1999 to July 12, 2003. On July 17, 1999, the Chamber of Deputies gave her confidence. The government consisted of 15 ministers (including prime ministers) and three state secretaries. In addition, three government commissioners were commissioned.

This first government, led by Guy Verhofstadt (VLD), consisted of Flemish and Francophone Liberals ( VLD and PRL ), Socialists ( SP and PS ) and Greens ( Agalev and Ecolo ). It was named "Rainbow Coalition" (Dutch rainboog , French arc-en-ciel ) based on the mixture between blue, red and green (the colors of the forming parties).

The Verhofstadt I government was the successor to the Dehaene II government under Jean-Luc Dehaene ( CVP ), which in turn was composed of Christian Socialists and Socialists. The Christian Socials in particular were punished in the federal elections on June 13, 1999, among other things because of the " Dutroux affair" (pedophile scandal ) and the dioxin crisis (dioxin-poisoned food), and thus had to come into opposition for the first time since 1958.

During its lifetime, the government experienced some personnel changes. So attracted Jaak Gabriëls and Rudy Demotte , respectively, in the Flemish Government and the Government of the French Community , during the first Pierre Chevalier (legal problems in Switzerland ) and Magda Aelvoet (protest against Belgian arms shipments to Nepal ) prematurely declared their resignation. Two weeks before the new elections, the two representatives of the francophone Greens from Ecolo , Isabelle Durant and Olivier Deleuze , resigned from the government and let the legislative period end with a scandal. The reason for this were disagreements about the airline schedule, which should run certain night flights from Brussels-Zaventem airport via the city of Brussels .

In the elections on May 18, 2003, the Greens lost numerous votes, while Liberals and Socialists alone were able to form a majority. On July 12, 2003, the Verhofstadt I government was replaced by the Verhofstadt II government.

composition

minister	Surname	Political party
prime minister	Guy Verhofstadt	VLD
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Employment, Mobility and Transport until May 5, 2003: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Employment	Laurette Onkelinx	PS
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs	Louis Michel	PRL
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for the Budget, Social Integration and Social Economy	Johan Vande Lanotte	SP
Minister attached to the Minister for Scientific Research until May 5, 2003: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Mobility and Transport	Yvan Ylieff until May 5, 2003: Isabelle Durant	PS Ecolo
Minister for Consumer Protection, Public Health and the Environment	Jef Tavernier until August 28, 2002: Magda Aelvoet	Agalev Agalev
Minister of the Interior	Antoine Duquesne	PRL
Minister for Social Affairs and Pensions	Frank Vandenbroucke	SP
Minister for Public Office and Administration Modernization	Luc Van den Bossche	SP
Minister of Defense	André Flahaut	PS
Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Foreign Affairs until July 10, 2001: Minister for Agriculture and SMEs	Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck until July 10, 2001: Jaak Gabriëls	VLD VLD
Minister of Justice	Marc Verwilghen	VLD
Minister of Finance	Didier Reynders	PRL
Minister for Telecommunications, Public Enterprises and Holdings and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises until July 10, 2001: Minister for Telecommunications and Public Enterprises and Holdings	Rik Daems	VLD
Minister of Economy and Scientific Research, in charge of metropolitan politics until April 8, 2000: Minister of Economy and Scientific Research	Charles Picqué to April 4, 2000: Rudy Demotte	PS PS
State Secretaries	Surname	Political party
State Secretary, attached to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Office on July 10, 2001 dissolved until October 11, 2000: State Secretary for Foreign Trade	- until July 10, 2001: Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck until October 11, 2000: Pierre Chevalier	- VLD VLD
State Secretary for Development Cooperation	Eddy Boutmans	Agalev
State Secretary for Energy and Sustainable Development, charged with simplifying tax procedures and combating tax evasion on a large scale until May 5, 2003: State Secretary for Energy and Sustainable Development	Alain Zenner until May 5, 2003: Olivier Deleuze	PRL Ecolo
Government commissioners	Surname	Political party
Government Commissioner, assigned to the Minister for Social Affairs and Pensions until January 19, 2001: Government Commissioner in charge of the dioxin problem	Greet van Gool until January 19, 2001: Freddy Willockx	SP SP
Government Commissioner, assigned to the Minister of Finance. Office dissolved on May 5, 2003 until October 25, 2000: Government Commissioner charged with administrative simplification	- until May 5, 2003: Alain Zenner until October 25, 2000: Anne André-Léonard	- PRL PRL
Government Commissioner, assigned to the Minister for Scientific Research Office on May 5, 2003 dissolved until April 8, 2000: Government Commissioner responsible for the politics of the big cities	- until May 5, 2003: Yvan Ylieff until April 8, 2000: Charles Picqué	- PS PS

Web links

• Belgian Prime Minister's website (multilingual)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The government declaration of the government Verhofstadt I is in Dutch and French on the website  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the CRISP.  
2. ^ The francophone liberals of the PRL, together with the smaller parties FDF and MCC, formed a so-called cartel in the federal parliament ; The latter, however, did not have their own representation in the government.
3. ↑ Sometimes also referred to on the Flemish side as the “violet-green government” (Dutch paars-groen ).
4. ↑ Lalibre.be: Durant et Deleuze démissionnent (May 4, 2003) (French)
5. ↑ Lalibre.be: Anatomie d'un crash (May 4, 2003) (French)