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Adeelgemeente (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈdeːlɣəˌmeːntə]ⓘ, literallysub-municipality), orsection (French pronunciation:[sɛksjɔ̃]ⓘ), is a subdivision of amunicipality inBelgium and, until March 2014, in theNetherlands as well.
Eachmunicipality in Belgium that existed as a separate entity on 1 January 1961 but no longer existed as such after 1 January 1977 as the result of a merger is considered asection ordeelgemeente within most municipalities. In addition, theCity of Brussels is also divided in foursections that correspond to the communes that existed before their merger in 1921.
The termdeelgemeente is used inDutch and the termsection inFrench to refer to such a subdivision of a municipality anywhere in Belgium, municipalities having beenmerged throughout the country in the 1970s. Beforehand,sections ordeelgemeenten usually were independent municipalities before the fusions in the 1970s. In French, the termsection is sometimes confused withcommune (formunicipality), especially in larger cities likeCharleroi andMons as thesections composing the municipality used to be individualcommunes before the 1970s. It is therefore not rare to hear that Mons comprises "19communes" when in fact Mons is a single municipality (commune) divided into 19sections. In addition, there is the termancienne commune (former municipality), which has no official status.
Asection ordeelgemeente does not bear any administrative powers. However, theBelgian Constitution provides the possibility of implementingdistricts for any municipality with at least 100,000 inhabitants, givingde facto political and administrative jurisdiction to the sections. Only the municipality ofAntwerp has implemented tendistricts, Belgium's lowest level of administration.
In the Netherlands,deelgemeenten were administrative divisions that could be instituted by any municipality.[1] The city ofAmsterdam was the first to do this. In the early 1980s, the municipality was divided into fifteen deelgemeenten. This amount was decreased to eight in 2010.[2] Seven of these were officially calledstadsdeel.
Rotterdam followed in the 1990s and was divided into fourteendeelgemeenten.[3]Deelgemeenten had their own mayor, thedeelgemeentevoorzitter, their own aldermen,deelgemeentewethouders, and their own elected assembly, thedeelgemeenteraad.Deelgemeenten were abolished in March 2014, after the2014 municipal elections. Since 2014, districts of Amsterdam have abestuurscommissie (literally "governance commission"), and thedeelgemeenten of Rotterdam are now calledgebieden (literally "areas").
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