The provinces and municipalities are autonomous institutions under the supervision of the Federal, Regional, and Community governments, cascading key legislation, programs, and initiatives that impact their local territory and performing relevant administrative tasks for their residents.
Provinces
Belgium has 10 provinces, 5 in Flanders and 5 in Wallonia. These provinces are intermediate levels of government.
Provinces in Flanders
- Antwerp (Antwerpen): the capital city is the city of Antwerp
- East Flanders (Oost Vlaanderen): the capital city is Ghent
- Flemish Brabant (Vlaams Brabant): the capital city is Leuven ❤️
- Limburg: the capital city is Hasselt
- West Flanders (West Vlaanderen): the capital city is Bruges
Provinces in Wallonia
- Hainaut: the capital city is Mons
- Liège: the capital city is the city of Liège
- Luxembourg: the capital city is Arlon
- Namur: the capital city is the city of Namur
- Walloon Brabant: the capital city is Wavre
Provinces have the national and regional equivalent of a legislative branch called the Provincial Council. They make decisions, vote on provincial regulations, and manage the provincial budget. They elect the executive branch of the provincial government from among their members - a governor and a group of deputies collectively known as deputation (deputatie). Provincial governments handle issues that are too local for the federal government but too large for individual municipalities (particularly for those that are too small to manage large-scale projects), including:
- Public health: Coordination of health services at a regional level.
- Education: Running provincial schools and specific educational programs.
- Environment: Managing parks, water resources, and regional environmental protection efforts.
- Provincial infrastructure: Provincial roads and cultural infrastructure, e.g., provincial museums
- Disaster and emergency planning
Municipalities
Before there were Regions, Communities or provinces, even before there was an official Belgian state, there were municipalities. Municipalities represent the smallest administrative units* in Belgium, functioning as local governments responsible for delivering services directly to citizens. There are 581 municipalities (gemeenten in Dutch or communes in French) in Belgium; 300 are located in Flanders, 262 in Wallonia, and 19 in the Brussels-Capital Region.
The municipal council (gemeenteraad) is responsible for critical decision-making at the municipal level and for the nomination of the municipal head (later appointed by the Regional government) - the mayor (burgemeester). The mayor and the college of aldermen (schepencollege) perform the daily municipal administration, and prepare and implement municipal council decisions.
The roles of the municipality include:
- Local infrastructure: Maintaining roads, parks, and public spaces.
- Public services: Providing utilities like water and waste management, as well as public safety through local police forces.
- Civil registries: Managing birth, death, and marriage records, as well as local elections.
- Social services: Administering welfare programs, including housing and social assistance.
Municipalities levy local taxes to fund their operations. You can learn more about the role of the municipalities here.
*Municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants can have further "sub-municipality" divisions, sometimes with their own administrative structures. Leuven has 5 sub-municipalities, all of which fall under the city's administration.