Belgium/ 7. Cultural institutions and new partnerships  

7.1 Re-allocation of public responsibilities

Flemish Community

The division of responsibilities between the Flemish government, the provinces and the municipalities varies depending on the sector. Some decrees contain clear regulations on the division of tasks, sometimes including financial quotas. This is the case for example for the city theatres, cultural centres, libraries and heritage covenants.

The "kerntakendebat" (debate on core responsibilities) resulted in a principal agreement on April 25th 2003. This implies that the provinces and municipalities will be involved in the process of changing regulations. In order to reach a good division of responsibilities, the Flemish government will negotiate with umbrella organisations representing municipalities and provinces in the international, Flemish, provincial and / or local institutions and organisations active in the fields of (moveable and immoveable) heritage, professional arts, socio-cultural work and youth work.

French Community

The French Community allocates a sizeable budget to the French Community Commission (FCC), which in turn delegates some of its responsibility to Brussels. This FCC is a public administration body dependent upon the Brussels Capital region.

The French Community government has set up a management contract with the RTBF (public service broadcasting) which outlines its mission and annual level of support. This financial support is allocated by the Ministry of the French Community and amounted to 175 653 000 euros in 2005. The audio-visual department of the French Community manages the funds allocated to the Film and Audio-visual Centre.

The French community has created an independent administrative authority: the Superior Council for the Audiovisual Sector (SCA) which is responsible for regulating the radio broadcasting sector. The SCA has a mission set by the government of the French Community over a five year financial contract period.

The Royal Museum of Mariemont is an establishment with separate management and it benefits from a French Community grant. This museum has antiquities and archaeology collections. The development work of the museum is of scientific, educational and significant cultural interest.

German-speaking Community

Since 1 January 2005, the German-speaking Community has supervisory responsibilities for subordinate authorities, powers which were transferred for the nine German-speaking boroughs by the Walloon Region. The German Community has also entered into a cooperation accord with the Province of Liège.