Liberal Party (Belgium)

The liberal party has a long history and is closely associated with the federalization of Belgium.

In 1848, the Belgian parliament decided to reform the electoral law to ensure that the (mostly liberal ) bourgeoisie enters the parliament. This allowed the liberal party from 1848 to 1892 to occupy leading positions in parliament and have a great influence on Belgian society. This period of Belgian history is called liberal hegemony . In the years 1884-1900, another liberal party also existed - the Progressive.

Due to social unrest in 1880-1890 and the publication of the papal encyclical “ Rerum Novarum ” (which paid great attention to the problems of the working class and supported the idea of ​​creating trade unions ), the electoral law changed again and universal suffrage was introduced in Belgium in 1891 , because of which the Liberal Party lost its primacy in parliament and became an opposition party .

Between 1831 - 1884, the Prime Ministers of the Liberal Party were: Joseph Lebo , Albert Goble d'Alvielle , Jean Baptiste Naughton , Sylvain van de Weyer , Charles Roger , Henri de Brookker , Walter Frere-Orban . The last Prime Minister of the Liberal Party was Paul-Emile Janson (ruled from 1937 to 1938 ).

In 1961, the party was renamed the “Party of Freedom and Progress” in Flanders and the “Party for Freedom and Progress” in Wallonia . In 1972, the party was finally divided into Flemish and Walloon.

Later, the Freedom and Progress Party was renamed “ Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats .” And the Walloon Party for Freedom and Progress merged with the Reformation movement .

• Th. Luykx, M. Platel, Politieke geschiedenis van Belgie , 2 vol., Kluwer, 1985
• E. Witte, J. Craeybeckx, A. Meynen, Politieke geschiedenis van Belgie , Standaard, 1997

• Liberal archive