total of pb processes
​

30*

local government
​

Not defined

regional, state
​and national governments

Not defined

other type of institution

Not defined

large cities

Not defined

capital cities

Not defined

Legislation regarding the regulation of Participatory Budgeting experiences
_

​In Wallonia, the Regional Government has included a decree in the Code of Local Democracy and Decentralization (L1321-3) and in Brussels, Article 258bis of the New Communal Law, inserted by Article 33 of the Ordinance of the Brussels-Capital Region
of 5 March 2009, states: “The communal council may allocate part of the budget, called the PB, to projects emanating from neighborhoods committees or citizen initiatives. “A proposal has also been tabled in the Flemish Parliament for citizens to be involved in the preparation of the Flemish government’s budget.

Outstanding innovation
​_

​Regarding the available resources, the vast majority of Belgian initiatives are debating insignificant amounts. Moreover, if we look at the cycles of the “PB”, we often operate in reverse: elected officials isolate a part of the budget that they do not allocate to a specific issue to decide what to do with citizens.
Others test the “PB” by using a subsidy (which is not communal money). These logics therefore do not really allow citizens to take ownership of the functioning of public finances or to guide and support elected officials in their budgetary choices.
We are also often on a tight schedule of spending decisions.
In recent years, several cities have posted more significant amounts debated with citizens, such as Antwerp (1 million euros) or Brussels City (200,000 euros).

Principal tendencies detected
​​_

​In general, the existing mechanisms in Belgium, with the exception of a few processes, really integrate the democratic and budgetary learning dimension. More limited public funds operate on the basis of a call for projects formulated and ​implemented by citizens, rather than an exercise around the prioritization of issues and the distribution/redistribution of public financial resources. This is marked in particular by
the fact that:

​a. Few of them propose an effective relation with the municipal budget itself, in reflection, analysis temporality.
b. The processes do not really leave much room for the analysis of issues, particularly because there is little or no diagnostic work at all, and even more since most of
the approaches are based on the fact that the projects will be carried out by the citizens themselves, and not by the municipality. We often focus on small projects that
meet limited challenges (cleanliness, local festivals, small facilities such as flower boxes, small actions...).
c. The decision-making procedures rarely propose moments of discussion between the different actors and therefore the needs of the municipality. Projects are most often
chosen by a select committee (whose composition is defined by politicians) and/or placed in the hands of citizens without political intervention.

other information
​​_

​​Despite this, we remain convinced that forms of “real PB” will emerge in the upcoming years. As a structure born in Brazil and pursuing the purpose of a more democratic and inclusive society, Periferia tries to encourage this evolution and promotes municipal PB as a democratic tool. We have written an advocacy document to raise awareness of this practice among public actors and written a publication to inspire those who would like to
get started. More recently, we have created an online database compiling a series of documents to provide information and instruments on this matter. These 3 resources are available online free of charge via our website :

a. Publication “un budget r.ellement participatif en Belgique:
 est-ce possible?”
b. Plaidoyer “pourquoi encourager les budgets participatifs?”
c. Base de donn.es “budgets participatifs”

In autumn of 2019, a cycle of events will be organized in order to facilitate the development of municipal and regional PB experiences in Belgium.

* There are no Participatory Budgeting experiences based on the five requirements, but there are more than 30 experiences supporting local initiatives promoted by municipalities, regional departments or public social welfare institutions.

C O M M U N I T Y

capital

Brussels

population

11 422 070

language

Dutch, French, German

currency

Euro

P O S I T I O N   O N   I N D E X E S

DEMOCRACY

31
FLAWED DEMOCRACY

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

17
VERY HIGH

CORRUPTION PERCEPTION

17/180

WORLD HAPPINESS

18/156