More than a hundred bills have already been put forward in the Belgian House even though the government is yet to be formed.
The topics are very varied; The Socialist Party has tabled bills for legislation on abortion. Other controversial proposals concern euthanasia, cannabis, social dumping and for the minimum pension to be set at 1,500 euro.
The humanist centre party (cdH) focuses on improving the conditions for parental leave, the mandatory citizen service and on making the large tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon pay more taxes.
DéFi, the social-liberal party, wants stricter punishments on those committing hate crimes or who violate laws on discrimination, related to employment and housing.
The right wing N-VA has announced proposals relating to immigration. Another bill aims at facilitating the State to strip a person’s of the Belgian citizenship in the event of a terrorist offense.
The Belgian House consists of 150 members who are directly elected on the basis of the proportional representation system.
The House votes on laws and is expected to assemble in September. Belgium’s federal government is politically accountable solely to the Belgian House of representatives.
The Brussels Times
