Senate (Belgium)
It is a chamber of the communities and regions and serves as a platform for discussion and reflection about matters between these federated entities.The Senate today plays a minor role in the federal legislative process.The Senate was seen as a more conservative and elite body that served as a counterweight to the more progressive Chamber of representatives.For the Senate, candidates still needed to pay ground taxes, but the threshold was lowered.[2] After World War II, women received the same rights as men as far as voting was concerned.These seats are distributed proportionally between parties based on the results of the latest direct election of the Chamber of Representatives (federal level).It was intended to allow the senators to elect a number of experts or members of representative organizations to join them to enhance the quality of debate and legislation; however, political parties sometimes use it as a means of rewarding loyal members that were not elected.[3] The fourth state reform, which took place in 1993, revised the Belgian Constitution, reduced the number of senators to 71.These numbers were in the Belgian Constitution and roughly reflect the ratio of Dutch-speakers to French-speakers by population.Before the sixth state reform, the children of the King, older than 18, or if there were none, the Belgian descendants of the main branch of the royal house, were entitled to be senators by right by taking the oath of office.A senator can only enter into office after having taken the constitutional oath, in either of the three official languages in Belgium: Dutch, French or German.(Dutch: Ik zweer de Grondwet na te leven, French: Je jure d'observer la Constitution, German: Ich schwöre, die Verfassung zu befolgen) Certain offices are incompatible with the office of senator.The Bureau determines the legislative agenda and the order of business in the plenary assembly and the committees, and manages the internal affairs of the Senate.A member of the Federal Government is usually invited to attend the discussions about the legislative agenda.Subsidiarity: Following the EU Treaties, the Senate has the right as chamber of the federal parliament to ensure that the European Union does not take an initiative on an issue that is better dealt with at another level.Before a dossier or topic for debate is dealt with in plenary, it is prepared in one of the committees of the Senate.
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