Flemish Minister of Justice Zuhal Demir is starting discussions with her fellow ministers at other levels about a possible defederalization of justice, she announced today.
Earlier this year, Demir had a study made on defederalization (the transfer of federal powers to a region, community to region) by constitutional specialists Stefan Sottiaux and Arvid Rochtus of KU Leuven. In that study, Sottiaux said that Belgium is the big exception compared to similar countries. “Belgium still has a very unitary justice system and is an outsider among federal states,” he said.
At the same time, he spoke of a “democratic deficit” in the states. “They have two of the three legs of the trias politica: the legislative and the executive power, but the judiciary has been forgotten along the way. This creates a situation in which states remain dependent on the federal level for the enforcement of their policies, for example regarding the environment. And the federal justice minister cannot be held regionally accountable for his choices.”
Flemish Minister of Justice Zuhal Demir sees the research as proof that a defederalization of justice is necessary. In concrete terms, this means that justice would then end up in the hands of the communities.
She now wants to consult with Vincent Van Quickenborne (federal Minister of Justice), Antonios Antoniadis of the German-speaking community and Françoise Bertieaux of the French community. Federal Minister for Institutional Reforms David Clarinval is also involved. Annelies Verlinden also has that authority, but she has not yet accepted the invitation. The discussions will initially take place at cabinet level.
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