ABSTRACT

Between 1960 and 1993 Belgium changed radically. In 1960 it was still a unitary state – as it had been since its creation in 1830. Since 1993, however, Article 1 of the Constitution has formally declared that Belgium is a federal state composed of regions and communities. The constitutional reform of 1993 was the fourth in a row of deep institutional changes (in 1970, in 1980 and in 1988). Another and thus fifth reform in 2002 changed some aspects of the federal system. After the federal elections of 2010, the political elite engaged in another difficult and painful attempt at further constitutional change which was concluded in 2011 with an agreement on a sixth state reform. After all these reforms one can say for sure that the unitary state no longer exists. Yet it is more difficult to describe the exact nature of the current system or to foresee where exactly the recurrent reforms are heading. Belgium has been for some time and still is today a state on the move, a state in a permanent search for a new equilibrium.