Youth Policy in Belgium (French Community)

Belgium: a federal state

Belgium is a federal state, consisting of three communities and three regions.

Communities:

• the Flemish Community,
• the French Community
• and the German-Speaking Community

Regions:

• the Flemish Region,
• the Walloon Region
• and the Brussels Capital Region

There is no hierarchy between the federal, the community and regional levels. This division into communities and regions is an unique characteristic of Belgian federalism. Both entities have their own exclusive competences (source: Youth policy in the three communities of Belgium).

Belgium: three ministers for Youth

The federal ‘Belgian’ level of government only has limited competence in youth matters (e.g. some aspects of judicial youth protection), but there is no youth policy at the Belgian level. The Communities are competent for youth and youth policy, so it is on this level that most explicit ‘youth policy instruments’ can be found.

The Communities have a minister responsible for Youth, a parliamentary commission and a number of administrative departments with ‘youth’ in their title and a large number of specific youth-related budget items. Given the fact that every Community has its own Minister for Youth, this means Belgium has three.

The French-speaking Community

The French Community of Belgium is an entity within the Belgian federal system with its own parliament and its own government. The area inhabited by the French Community coincides with the area of Wallonia (excluding the German-speaking Community) and the Brussels-Capital Region. It has 4,668,035 million inhabitants living in an area of 17,005 km3. The population density is 275 inhabitants per km3.

The French Community manages the matters allocated to it by the constitution and the institutional reform laws. In short, these are competences related to the individual and the use of the French language such as culture, education, research and training, youth care, children, youth, infrastructures, sports, intra-Belgian co-operation and international relations.

Youth policy, a cultural policy

Young people’s cultural participation is at the heart of youth policy in the French Community. One of its aims is to foster responsible, active, critical and supportive citizenship (CRAC in French) among young people aged from 3 to 30.