The Regions
Apart from the Federal State and the Communities, there are the Regions.
There are three Regions. The names of the three regional institutions are borrowed from the name of the territory they represent. So we refer to (from north to south) the Flemish Region, the Brussels-Capital Region and the Walloon Region.
Their powers have been extended in the course of the various reforms. During the second reform of the state in 1980, the Flemish and the Walloon Region were given their Parliament and Government. The Brussels-Capital Region, on the other hand, was only granted its institutions during the third reform of the State in 1988-89. The population elects the members of the Regional Parliament directly every five years.
The Regions have legislative and executive organs: these are known as the Regional Parliament and the Regional Government.
One should not forget that in Flanders, the Community and Regional institutions were merged. So in Flanders, there is one Parliament and one Government.
