Political Risk:
Low
Score:
80/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
100/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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Belgium’s federal Parliament has the exclusive power to approve or veto laws on security, and to reject or amend defence policy. It also has…
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Belgium’s federal Parliament has the exclusive power to approve or veto laws on security, and to reject or amend defence policy [1, 2, 3].…
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Belgium’s federal Parliament has the exclusive power to approve or veto laws on security, and to reject or amend defence policy. It also has…
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Q2
92/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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There are three defence committees. The main one is the Commission of Defence (Commissie van Landsverdediging), which is responsible for matters such as defence…
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The Commission of Defence has seventeen fixed members, including the president and two vice-presidents [1]. A review of bibliographical data reveals that most have…
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Every parliamentary term, which spans five years, the Minister of Defence proposes his/her Strategic Vision document [1]. This is then presented to the Commission…
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The defence committee meets weekly or biweekly, depending on the topics at hand. The meeting schedules and agenda are published on the Parliament website…
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The Commission of Defence meets weekly or biweekly, depending on the circumstances, to supervise current activities, such as the defence budget, personnel management and…
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The Minister of Defence does implement recommendations into practice to a large degree. The recommendation of the expert committee based on the risk analysis,…
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Q3
81/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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Defence policy is discussed in the Commission of Defence, which can be attended by press representatives. The meeting is also broadcasted online for the…
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Defence policy is discussed on a number of levels and in a number of formats. Security threats, procurement decisions, the link between threats and…
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Public consultations happen formallly and informally, on a semi-regular basis. First, the drafting of the Strategic Vision is preceded by debates on defence policy…
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The public can easily access documents, reports and laws on most aspects of the defence policy or security strategy [1, 2]. Information may be…
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Q4
58/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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The Belgian law on Freedom of Information ensures the openness of the Administration, including Belgian Defence, towards third parties [1]. This includes CSOs. The…
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Articles 11, 19 and 27 of the Belgian Constitution ensure freedom of expression and freedom of association [1]. Moreover, Belgium consistently scores high on…
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There is no evidence of engagement concerning corruption between CSOs and Belgian Defence [1, 2, 3]
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Q5
100/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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Belgium has ratified the OECD convention and the UNCAC convention. It also signed and ratified the UN convention against corruption [1]. Moreover, Belgium does…
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There is no evidence of negligence on, or opposition to, the implementation and working of anti-corruption instruments. Most recently, the 2020 Review of the…
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Q6
75/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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Debates on Defence are largely absent from the public sphere, but this is mainly due to the lack of interest in the topic by…
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Government official contact details are made available for the public. The Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence and Belgian Defence actively publish news on…
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Q7
25/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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The anti-corruption policy of Belgium is overarching and codified into laws, deontological codes and procurement processes. However, the country does not have an overarching…
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There is no public information available on an action plan against corruption at the ministry level [1]. The current government agreement mentions action points…
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Q8
83/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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There are identifiable compliance and ethics units within defence and security. Within Belgian Defence, any claim of corruption can be handled by the General…
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The General Inspectorate and Directorate General of Judicial Support (DG Jur) reports directly to the Chief of Defence [1, 2]. Their existence is officialised…
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Public servants, including members of Defence, need to abide by the federal Deontological Framework [1]. Moreover, Belgian Defence has a code of conduct in…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. In general, Belgians are not very interested in military issues and the military [1];…
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Q10
92/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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Since 2016, as the government wished to centralize all federal internal audits, the responsibility for auditing and risk assessment lies with the Federal Interal…
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Since 2018, the Federal Internal Audit (FIA) carries out annual audits based on risk assessments. The risk assessment is updated annually every autumn and…
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The Federal Internal Audit (FIA) has as its main goal to improve processes and procedures within the federal government. This includes the codification of…
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Defence Budgets
Q11
92/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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The Law on Public Procurement Contracts (‘Wet op Overheidsopdrachten’) describes the cycles the process of acquisitions must go through. These include the official disclosure…
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The laws describing the entire acquisition process are available online [1, 2, 3]. The public has access to relatively detailed information on the process…
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The Court of Auditors (‘Rekenhof’, ‘Court des Comptes’) is an independent audit body which reports directly to the Parliament (specifically, the Champer of Representatives)…
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Q12
100/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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Q13
100/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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The Chamber of Representatives has a National Defence Commission invested with scrutinizing defence budget under the Senate [1]. They are responsible for scrutiny and…
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The approval of the budget happens once a year [1]. After political debate and the approval of the numbers by the Council of Ministers,…
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Q14
92/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The budget is publicy available on the website of the Federal Public Service Policy and Support [1]. It is subdivided into categories to large…
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The vast majority of the approved defence budget is fully discosed to the public [1]. An exception is related to the intelligence expenditure (the…
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The Law on Freedom of Information states that all citizens have the right to request access to state documents [1]. Article 6 refers to…
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Q15
83/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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The annual Budget law is made by two documents, one for the expenses part (Algemene UitgavenBegroting – AUB) and a second one for the…
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Audit mechanisms ensure control over the sources of defence income and their allocation. First, the Inspector-General is an internal audit body which reports directly…
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Online searches of the media indicate that there is no consistent scrutiny of sources of defence income, either by the media or by CSOs…
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Q16
88/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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The Inspectorate General is the internal auditing body of Belgian Defence [1]. However, it is not responsible for military expenditure. Since 2016, as the…
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FIA carries out in yearly audit programs, based on an annualy updated risk assessment. By its very nature, this will include sensitive or critical…
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The Audit Committee of the Federal Government (ACFO, Auditcomité van de federale overheid) audits FIA to ensure the independence of the body [1]. It…
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There is evidence that the ministry regularly addresses audit findings in its practices. In 2017, for example, political debate arose on inconsistencies regarding the…
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Q17
88/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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The Court of Auditors (‘Rekenhof’, ‘Court des Comptes’) is an independent body with budgetary councillor and financial inspector as its main responsibilities [1]. It…
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The members of the Court of Auditors are appointed by the Chamber of Representatives of the Parliament for a period of six years. To…
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The reports from the Court of Auditors generally include the full report, a summary and a press summary [1]. Redactions may occur for the…
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In its annual report, the Court of Auditors states that its audit findings are regularly addressed by the governement. It bases this statement on…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
67/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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There are no specific statutory or constituional restrictions in Belgium on the defence sector’s involvement in natural resource exploitation [1]. There is are, however,…
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There is no evidence of defence institutions having financial interests in business associated with Belgium’s natural resource exploitation [1].
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There is no evidence of defence personnel individual involvment in businesses relating to the country’s natural resources. Belgium does have state-to-state partnership with former…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no evidence of defence institutions or personnel having financial interests relating to natural resource exploitation…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no evidence of defence institutions or personnel having financial interests relating to natural resource exploitation…
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Organised Crime
Q19
75/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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There is no evidence that supports penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector for the period 2016-2020. Media freedom and freedom…
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A specialised unit of the federal police (DJMM; Police Judiciaire Fédérale en Milieu Militaire) is responsible for all investigations in the military context. This…
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Q20
92/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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Within the Federal Police, the ‘Police judiciaire fédérale’ focuses on “supra-local” organised crime and destabilisisation, as well as corruption. There is no direct reference…
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The federal judiciary police is characterised as autonomous body which falls under the authority of both the minister of interior and the minister of…
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Cases appear to be generally investigated. There is no evidence of undue political influence in the prosecution of cases related to organised crime [1].
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
100/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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Comittee I (Comité I, the Belgian Standing Intelligence Agencies Review Committee) is responsible for scrutinizing the military intelligence service’s policies, administrations and budgets [1].…
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Committee I meets when it deems necessary, although in practice this is generally at least every two months [1]. DIscussions within the committee include…
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Q22
25/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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The Chief of Defence nominates a candidate for the Chief of the Intelligence Serice and his Vice-Chief. These nominations are then approved or declined…
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There is no opportunity for severe intervention by third parties as Committee I oversees irregularities within the intelligence services [1]. Yet, as the Minister…
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There is no external party investigation into the suitability of candidates. The transparancy of the intelligence services is low, primarily due to security reasons…
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Export Controls
Q23
83/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Belgium signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in 2013 and ratified it in 2014 [1].
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As stated in the Initial Report submitted 23 December 2015, Belgium has complied with each of the 3 ATT articles [1].
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Arms export in Belgium is a regional competence [1]. It is handled by the Flemish, Walloon or Brussels government. Two exceptions are Belgian Defence…
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Lobbying in Defence
The framework for regulating lobbying acitivity in Belgium is weak. The Chamber of Representatives has accepted a proposition on a lobby registry [1, 2].…
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Within Belgian Defence, there exists a registration process for lobbying meetings. A contact register keeps track of exchanges between Belgian Defence personnel and representatives…
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There is a registration lobby system operational in 2019 [1]. Even though it is mandatory, there were only 133 (17/09/20) companies in the register…
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There is not enough information to score this indicator. There is no designated oversight entity with a clear and strong mandate for oversight of…
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