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Aformateur (French for "someone who forms, who constitutes") is apolitician who is appointed to lead theformation of acoalition government, after either ageneral election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur is especially important in the politics ofBelgium, theNetherlands,[1]Luxembourg,Italy,Israel and theCzech Republic. These countries have aparliamentary system, where theexecutive derives its mandate from majority support in thelegislature. They also useproportional representation for elections to parliament, and have amultiparty system that makes it improbable for one party to win an outright majority. There may be several combinations ofparties which might form a coalition. The formateur is traditionally appointed by thehead of state but in the Netherlands that became the right of theSpeaker of the House of Representatives in the early 21st century.
The formateur most often comes from the largest party in the future coalition (although an even larger party may remain in theopposition) and generally becomes the newprime minister if the formation succeeds. Under aconstitutional monarchy this appointment may be areserve power of the monarch, and remains one of the rare moments when a mostly ceremonial monarch may play a significant political role.
Ingame theory andpolitical science, the termformateur party is used to describe the party that makes a proposal in a bargaining process, most often when modeling a government formation.
The formateur's work may be preceded by one or moreinformateurs, also appointed by the same authority as the formateur. The informateur is not expected to finalize a coalition, but attempts to find enough points of agreement to identify a likely coalition, from which a formateur is then selected to conclude a political program and compose a cabinet, usually headed by himself. The informateur should be someone not otherwise considered for ministerial office, although some do obtain aportfolio in the future government. The role is often filled by a retiredstatesperson of some stature, often a former governmentminister orparty leader.[citation needed]
These positions are usually not described in any statute, but they tend to become part ofpolitical tradition. Informateurs have become customary in Belgium and the Netherlands since the 1950s.[2]
InBelgian political parties, nearly identical political ideologies are represented by distinct parties for each language. This may lead to coalitions of four or more parties. The post of informateur became too prestigious to risk failure, so new terms for essentially the same task were introduced, such as "royal mediator" and "explorer" after the2007 Belgian government formation failed for months to produce a clear prospect for a majority, and "preformateur" (presumed to succeed himself as formateur and PM if successful) after the 2010 federal elections. The job can even be shared by two conjoint (in)formateurs, e.g. a Flemish and a Francophone one.
In theNetherlands, the coalition usually comprises two, three or four parties. Ever since the Netherlands adopted proportional representation in 1918, no party has even come close to winning an outright majority in theHouse of Representatives. Thus, the formation process is at least as, if not more, important than the election itself.
The informateur, who researches the possible coalition options before a newcabinet is formed, is often a veteran politician, member of theSenate orCouncil of State. Often the informateur presides over talks with possible coalition partners, leading to a communal program, thecoalition agreement. Sometimes, after the formation of a cabinet, the informateur becomes aminister.[3]
Once the informateur has found a potentially successful coalition, he goes back to the House, who appoints a formateur, who presides over the talks about the ministerial positions that are held between the parties that have already established acoalition agreement.[1]
Inprovincial andmunicipal politics, a formateur can also be appointed. In the past, the negotiations were led by the largest party; but especially in tough negotiations, a formateur is appointed to be a "chairman" during the negotiations which is somewhat more neutral. The difference with a formateur on national level is that this local formateur does not report to the king, but to themayor (municipal) or theKing's Commissioner (provincial).
