Opinions, statements, petitions

Opinions

The Parliament adopts opinions on draft laws and law proposals from the federal state, which concern the Community (e.g. language legislation, laws on the continuation of state reforms etc.).

Statements

The Parliament also provides a forum for discussions on politically relevant issues. The discussion often leads to the drafting of statements.

Petitions

The right to petition is a fundamental right of all citizens enshrined in the Belgian Constitution. The petition must be submitted in written form to the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.

In principle, every citizen has the right to hand in a petition to the Parliament. However, the Parliament only deals with petitions on matters that are within the competence of the German-speaking Community. The petition is forwarded to the competent committee. The committee may, if necessary, refer the petition to another committee or to a minister or decide shelve it.

Petitioners are not granted the right to be heard and there is no time limit for dealing with the petition. The members of Parliament get a summary of the contents of the petitions and the decisions that have been taken every three months.