Flemish Government

The Flemish administration (Dutch: Vlaamse overheid) denotes the Flemish civil service. With the 2006 reform program Better Administrative Policy (Dutch: Beter Bestuurlijk Beleid), the Flemish civil service is designed to make the Flemish public administration more efficient and transparent.

The tasks of the Flemish public administration are now organised in 13 policy areas. Each policy area comprises a department and a number of (semi-) independent government agencies. Only those with their own article are mentioned below.

The 11 policy areas are:

1. Public Governance and the Chancellery (KB)
2. Foreign Affairs (iV)
   • Liaison Agency Flanders-Europe (vleva)
   • Flanders Investment and Trade (FIT)
3. Finance and Budget (FB)
4. Education and Training (OV)
5. Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI)
   • Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT)
   • Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV)
   • National Botanic Garden of Belgium
6. Culture, Youth, Sport and Media (CJSM)
   • Agency for the Promotion of Physical Development, Sport and the Outdoor Recreation (Bloso)
   • Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA)
7. Welfare, Public Health and Family (WVG)
   • Care Inspectorate
8. Agriculture and Fisheries (LV)
9. Work and Social Economy (WSE)
10. Mobility and Public Works (MOW)
    • Flemish Transport Company "De Lijn"
11. Environment (OMG)
    • Flemish Energy Agency (VEA)
    • Immovable Heritage

Several other institutes, such as the Flemish Opera and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), were not incorporated into the above structure.

Every year, the Minister-President presents the current state of affairs in Flanders and the Government's plans for next year during the September Declaration on the fourth Monday in September.

The below figures use the 2018 budget as example, which had €44.7 billion in expenses and €42.3 billion in revenue.^[1]

The revenue comes from the following sources:

• 56% – Special financing law: the so-called "shared taxes" and "merged taxes" which the federal government raises through income taxes and VAT and partially transfers to the communities and regions based on a complex formula
• 34% – Fiscal autonomy
  • 18% – Opcentiemen: additional "centimes" to the federal income tax (the height of which can be set by the Flemish Government)
  • 16% – Regional taxes (taxes under the proper authority of the Flemish Government), such as the traffic tax and inheritance tax
• 10% – Other revenues

The expenses are as follows per policy area:

The Flemish Government owns the rights to Flanders Today, an English-speaking online and print newspaper focused on current affairs in Flanders and Brussels. The project was launched in 2007 by Geert Bourgeois – then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism -, for three main reasons:^[2]

• Facilitating the integration of expats living in the region by informing them of the region's current events.
• Informing international journalists about the region, as most foreign correspondents based in Brussels get their news from the French-speaking press because the majority cannot read Dutch. Flanders Today would act as a counterweight to that side of every story.
• Informing diplomats, investors, potential tourists and others outside of Belgium's borders about the region.

In May 2017, the Flemish Government announced it would not be rebidding the Flanders Today project. Both the print and the online version of the paper are to be shut down in October 2017.^[3]

• Flanders
• Flanders in Action
• Flemish Community Commission
• Government of the Brussels-Capital Region
• Government of the French Community
• Politics of Flanders