2007–2011 Belgian political crisis
Timeline 2007 elections 2007–2008 government formation Verhofstadt III (interim) Leterme I Van Rompuy I Leterme II 2010 elections 2010–2011 government formation Di Rupo I Sixth state reform
See also Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde Partition of Belgium State reform in Belgium Politics of Belgium Cabinet of Belgium

Thesixthstate reform in the federal kingdom ofBelgium is the result after the2010–2011 Belgian government formation, with 541 days of negotiations, the longest ever in Belgium and possibly the world. The agreement was made among the Christian-democraticCD&V andcdH, social-democraticsp.a andPS, liberalOpen Vld andMR and ecologistGroen! andEcolo, each respectively a Flemish and French-speaking party. The first six parties, therefore not including the green parties, then formed theDi Rupo I Government. The Flemish nationalist partyNew Flemish Alliance, which became the largest after the2010 elections, was notably not part of the agreement nor of the government coalition.

It is also calledButterfly Agreement (Dutch:Vlinderakkoord;French:Accord papillon), referring to thebow tie whichElio Di Rupo nearly always wears.

Political reform

• TheBelgian Senate will no longer be directly elected, but will instead become an assembly of regional parliaments, with fewer members.
• AfterFlanders andWallonia as the Flemish and French-speaking Communities, theBrussels-Capital Region andGerman-speaking Community will also have constitutive autonomy.

Brussels andBrussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

• The electoral constituency ofBrussels-Halle-Vilvoorde will be split.
• The judicial district of Brussels will be reformed.

Transfer of competences from the federal level to thecommunities and regions (competences in total worth € 17 billion per year)

• Regions will receive economic and employment competences, communities will be responsible for family policy.

Reform of the financing law

• The communities and regions will be financed differently and will have more fiscal autonomy.

Changes to the Powers of the Royal Family

• The children of the King will no longer be entitled to a seat in the Senate.

• 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis
• 2010–2011 Belgian government formation
• Di Rupo I Government
• State reform in Belgium

• Original text in Dutch (Institutioneel akkoord voor de zesde staatshervorming) or French (Accord institutionnel pour la sixième réforme de l'état)
• The sixth Belgian state reform of October 2011: analysis & next steps^{[permanent dead link]}, whyte
• The Butterfly Agreement, a milestone rather than the end game of State Reform^{[permanent dead link]}, Interel Belgium

• Politics of Belgium
• 2011 in Belgium
• Reform in Belgium
• Federalism in Belgium

• Articles containing Dutch-language text
• Articles containing French-language text
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from May 2018
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from November 2018