Municipalities of Belgium

The Belgian arrondissements (Dutch: arrondissementen; French: arrondissements; German: Bezirke), an administrative level between province (or the capital region) and municipality, or the lowest judicial level, are in English sometimes called districts as well.

Not much changed during the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, only a number of smaller municipalities were merged.

This also includes the municipalities of the East Cantons that were added to Belgium following the First World War.

In 1961, the so-called Unitary Law (Dutch: Eenheidswet; French: Loi unique; German: Einheitsgesetz), of which the fourth chapter was dedicated to the territorial organisation of the municipalities, was adopted.

The authority to abolish municipalities was entrusted to the executive branch for a period of 10 years.

Article 4 of the constitution states that each municipality must belong to only one of the four official language areas that were established in 1962–63.

[1] Lucien Harmegnies, Minister of the Interior in the government of Gaston Eyskens (1968–1972) decided to continue the process of territorial reorganization of Belgium.

The fifth state reform (2001) transferred the responsibility over municipalities from the federal level to the three regions.

The mayor (Dutch: burgemeester; French: bourgmestre; German: Bürgermeister) is not only the head of the municipality but also the representative of the regional and the federal government at the local level.

In the Flanders and Brussels, the mayor is appointed by the regional government, on the nomination of the municipal council, for a term of office of six years.

Since 1970, the Belgian Constitution includes the possibility to create agglomerations and federations of municipalities by law.

It de facto ceased to exist in 1989 when the organs of the Brussels-Capital Region were established.