Verhofstadt II government

The Belgian government Verhofstadt II was in office from July 12, 2003 to December 21, 2007. On July 14, 2003, the Chamber of Deputies gave her confidence. The government consisted of fifteen ministers (including prime ministers) and six state secretaries.

This second government led by Guy Verhofstadt (VLD) consisted of Flemish and Francophone Liberals ( VLD and MR ) on the one hand and Flemish and Francophone Socialists ( sp.a and PS ) on the other . She was called the "purple 'coalition' (NDL. Paars , fr. Violet ) based on the mix of blue and red (the colors of forming parties). In addition, the Spirit party , the small cartel partner of the sp.a and splinter party of the former Flemish nationalist Volksunie , was involved in the government.

The Verhofstadt II government was the successor to the Verhofstadt I government , which in turn was composed of liberals, socialists and Greens (so-called “rainbow coalition”). Since the latter were no longer necessary for the formation of a majority in the federal parliament after the elections of May 18, 2003 , liberals and socialists decided to form the government alone. The government was formed after 35 days of negotiation.

Two profound personnel changes were made in the Verhofstadt II government during its term. First on July 18, 2004 after the regional and European elections, as a result of which the francophone liberal Louis Michel was sent to the European Commission and various ministers left the federal government to join the governments of the communities and regions . And then a second time on October 17, 2005, when the Flemish socialist Johan Vande Lanotte resigned after he was elected party president of the sp.a. As the outgoing government, Armand De Decker and Rudy Demotte finally left the government to take up their posts as President of the Senate and Prime Minister of the Walloon Region, respectively .

In the elections on June 10, 2007, the Liberals and Socialists lost their majority in parliament. However, the government officially remained in office as the outgoing government until December 2007, as the then-designated government former Yves Leterme ( CD&V - N-VA ) failed to set up a new government. On December 21, 2007, Guy Verhofstadt finally formed the “interim government” Verhofstadt III at the request of the king in order to free the country from the deadlock, and thus officially dissolved the Verhofstadt II government.

composition

minister	Surname	Political party
prime minister	Guy Verhofstadt	VLD
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice	Laurette Onkelinx	PS
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance until July 18, 2004: Minister of Finance	Didier Reynders	MR
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for the Budget and Consumer Protection until October 17, 2005: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for the Budget and Public Enterprises	Freya Van den Bossche until October 17, 2005: Johan Vande Lanotte	sp.a sp.a
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior	Patrick Dewael	VLD
Minister for Foreign Affairs until July 18, 2004: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs	Karel de Gucht until July 18, 2004: Louis Michel	VLD MR
Minister of Labor until July 18, 2004: Minister of Labor and Pensions	Peter Vanvelthoven until October 17, 2005: Freya Van den Bossche until July 18, 2004: Frank Vandenbroucke	sp.a sp.a sp.a
Minister of Defense	André Flahaut	PS
Minister for Social Affairs, Public Health and European Affairs until July 20, 2007: Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health	Didier Donfut until July 20, 2007: Rudy Demotte	PS PS
Minister for Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy	Marc Verwilghen until July 18, 2004: Fientje Moerman	VLD VLD
Minister for Mobility until July 18, 2004: Minister for Mobility and Social Economy	Renaat Landuyt until July 18, 2004: Bert Anciaux	sp.a Spirit
Minister of Public Service, Social Integration, Metropolitan Policy and Equal Opportunities until July 18, 2004: Minister of Public Service, Social Integration and Metropolitan Policy	Christian Dupont until July 18, 2004: Marie Arena	PS
Minister for SMEs, Agriculture and Development Cooperation before July 12, 2007: Minister for SMEs and Agriculture	Sabine Laruelle	MR
Minister for Environment and Pensions new office from July 18, 2004	Bruno Tobback	spa
Minister for Finance Modernization and Combating Tax Evasion until July 12, 2007: State Secretary for Finance Modernization and Combating Tax Evasion	Hervé Jamar	MR
Minister for Development Cooperation Office dissolved on July 12, 2007 and taken over by Minister for SMEs and Agriculture	- until July 12, 2007: Armand De Decker until July 18, 2004: Marc Verwilghen	- MR VLD
State Secretaries	Surname	Political party
State Secretary for the Informatization of the State Office dissolved on October 17, 2005	- until October 17, 2005: Peter Vanvelthoven	- sp.a
State Secretary for European Affairs dissolved on July 20, 2007	- until July 20, 2007: Didier Donfut until July 18, 2004: Frédérique Ries until February 12, 2004: Jacques Simonet	- PS MR MR
State Secretary for the Organization of Work and Wellbeing at Work. Office dissolved on July 18, 2004	- until July 18, 2004: Anissa Temsamani	- sp.a
State Secretary for Sustainable Development and Social Economy until July 18, 2004: Minister for Environment, Consumer Protection and Sustainable Development	Els Van Weert until July 18, 2004: Freya Van den Bossche	Spirit sp.a
State Secretary for Families and the Disabled	Gisèle Mandaila Malamba until July 18, 2004: Isabelle Simonis	MR PS
State Secretary for Administrative Simplification	Vincent Van Quickenborne	VLD
State Secretary for Public Enterprises, new office from October 17, 2005	Bruno Tuybens	spa

Web links

• Belgian Prime Minister's website (multilingual)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lalibre.be: La liste de nos nouveaux ministres (July 12, 2003) (French)
2. ↑ Lalibre.be: Et pourquoi pas un fonds pour l'optimisme? (July 14, 2003) (French)
3. ↑ The government declaration of the Verhofstadt II government in French can be found on the CRISP website [1] .
4. ↑ Lalibre.be: Verhofstadt II sera bien violet (July 8, 2003) (French)