Amendment to article 7bis suspended: Climate law to wait until next legislature

Belgium’s coalition temporary government and opposition parties agreed on Monday to include Article 7bis of the Constitution in a list of articles to be revised under the next legislature. As a result, consideration of the proposed ‘special climate law’ has effectively been suspended.

The amendment of Article 7bis, which enshrines the principle of “sustainable development” in public policies, is considered to be one of the most promising legislative routes for getting the special climate law passed. However, the article’s revision was rejected last Thursday in a plenary session of the House.

Subsequently, the Health Committee met on Monday to find alternative ways of getting the special climate law passed. However, none of the suggested proposals received sufficient support to achieve the necessary ‘grand majority’ (i.e. two-thirds majority in the House and a simple majority in each language group) in a plenary session. As a result, Parliament agreed to suspend the possible amendment of Article 7bis until the next legislature.

Further background information on Article 7bis and the ‘special climate law’ can be found here.