Reformist Movement

For the political alliance in France, see Reformist Movement (France).

The Reformist Movement^[2][3] (French: Mouvement Réformateur, pronounced [muvmɑ̃ ʁefɔʁmatœʁ], MR) is a liberal^[4][5][6] French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal^[7][8][9] and conservative-liberal factions.^[10][11] Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest parties on the European continent.^[12]

Reformist Movement Mouvement Réformateur
Abbreviation	MR
President	Georges-Louis Bouchez
Founded	24 March 2002; 22 years ago (2002-03-24)
Merger of	Liberal Reformist Party Citizens' Movement for Change Democratic Front of Francophones
Headquarters	National Secretariat Avenue de la Toison D'Or 84-86 1060 Brussels, Belgium
Think tank	Centre Jean Gol
Student wing	Fédération des Étudiants Libéraux
Youth wing	Jeunes MR
Ideology	Liberalism (Belgian) Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-right
Regional affiliation	Liberal Group[1]
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
European Parliament group	Renew Europe
International affiliation	Liberal International
Flemish counterpart	Open VLD
German-speaking counterpart	Party for Freedom and Progress
Colours	Blue
Slogan	L’Avenir s’éclaire
Chamber of Representatives (French-speaking seats)	20 / 60
Senate (French-speaking seats)	8 / 24
Walloon Parliament	20 / 75
Parliament of the French Community	32 / 94
Parliament of the German-speaking Community	3 / 25
Brussels Parliament (French-speaking seats)	18 / 72
European Parliament (French-speaking seats)	3 / 8
Benelux Parliament	3 / 22
Website
www.mr.be
Politics of Belgium Political parties Elections

Since October 2014, the party has provided two prime ministers: Charles Michel and Sophie Wilmès. It has been a member of every federal government since the 2000s. At the federated entities level, the MR was in charge of Wallonia from 2017 to 2019 with Willy Borsus as Minister-President of Wallonia. It is currently in charge of the French community with Pierre-Yves Jeholet as Minister-President of the French community.

The MR emerged victorious from the 2024 elections, becoming the leading French-speaking party. In Wallonia, the party came out on top with 29.6% of the vote. In Brussels, the MR also placed first, with 25.9% of the vote. Just a few days after the elections, the MR announced it would work closely with Les Engagés to quickly form governments in the Walloon Region and the French community.^[13] Having a majority on the French-speaking side of the Federal parliament, they joined forces to work on the formation of a new Belgian governement.^[14]

The MR is an alliance between three French-speaking and one German-speaking liberal parties. The Liberal Reformist Party (PRL) and the Francophone Democratic Federalists (FDF) started the alliance in 1993, and were joined in 1998 by the Citizens' Movement for Change (MCC). The alliance was then known as the PRL-FDF-MCC federation. The alliance became the MR during a congress in 2002, where the German-speaking liberal party, the Party for Freedom and Progress joined as well.^[15] The label PRL is no longer used, and the three other parties still use their own names. The MR is a member of Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party. However, on 25 September 2011, the FDF decided to leave the coalition. They did not agree with the manner in which president Charles Michel defended the rights of the French-speaking people in the agreement concerning the splitting of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district, during the 2010–11 Belgian government formation.^[16]

Ideology and policies

Over the years, the MR has always oscillated between ideological markers closer to conservative liberalism or social liberalism. Its fundamental principles remain however the same through time, such as defending civil liberties, free market, entrepreneurial freedom, and equal opportunities.

During Georges-Louis Bouchez's tenure as party president, the party is said to have shifted further to the right,^[17] aligning more with the centre-right.^[18][19] Bouchez has for example often publicly pointed out some excesses of the woke movement.^[20]

On its current platform, the party advocates higher revenues through lower taxes; time-limited unemployment benefits; life extension of the most recent nuclear reactors; greater investment in police, justice and defense; less government and state neutrality.^[21] MR is "belgicain", in favor of Belgian unity and a strong federal state.^[22]

Foreign policy

The MR is also a strong supporter of the European Union and NATO.^[23] It has always defended support, including military aid, for Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022. In 2024, the MR was the only party from De Croo Government to be opposed to Belgium recognizing the State of Palestine.^[24]

Presidents

• 2002–2003: Daniel Ducarme
• 2003–2004: Antoine Duquesne
• 2004–2011: Didier Reynders
• 2011–2014: Charles Michel
• 2014–2019: Olivier Chastel
• 2019: Charles Michel
• 2019–present: Georges-Louis Bouchez

Representation in EU Institutions

In the European Parliament, Mouvement Réformateur sits in the Renew Europe group with three MEPs: Sophie Wilmès, Olivier Chastel and Benoit Cassart.

In the European Committee of the Regions, Mouvement Réformateur sits in the Renew Europe CoR group, with one full and one alternate member for the 2020-2025 mandate.^[25][26] Willy Borsus is second vice-president of the Renew Europe CoR Group.^[27]

Election results

Chamber of Representatives

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Government
1995	623,250	10.3	19 / 150		Opposition
1999	630,219	10.1	18 / 150	1	Coalition
2003	748,954	11.4	24 / 150	6	Coalition
2007	835,073	12.5	23 / 150	1	Coalition
2010	605,617	9.3	18 / 150	5	Coalition
2014	650,260	9.6	20 / 150	2	Coalition
2019	512,825	7.6	14 / 150	6	Coalition
2024	716,934	10.3	20 / 150	6	TBA

Senate

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
1995	672,798	11.2	5 / 40
1999	654,961	10.6	5 / 40	0
2003	795,757	12.2	5 / 40	0
2007	815,755	12.3	6 / 40	1
2010	599,618	9.3	4 / 40	2

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Election	Votes	%		Seats	+/-	Government
		F.E.C.	Overall
1989	83,011		18.9 (#2)	15 / 75		Opposition
1995	144,478		35.0 (#1)	28 / 75	13	Coalition
1999	146,845	40.1 (#1)	34.4 (#1)	27 / 75	1	Coalition
2004	127,122	32.5 (#2)	28.0 (#2)	25 / 89	2	Opposition
2009	121,905	29.8 (#1)	26.5 (#1)	24 / 89	1	Opposition
2014	94,227	23.0 (#2)	20.4 (#2)	18 / 89	6	Opposition
2019	65,502	16.9 (#3)	14.3 (#3)	13 / 89	5	Opposition
2024	101,157	26.0 (#1)		20 / 89	7	TBA

Walloon Parliament

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Government
1995	447,542	23.7 (#2)	19 / 75		Opposition
1999	470,454	24.7 (#2)	21 / 75	2	Coalition
2004	478,999	24.3 (#2)	20 / 75	1	Opposition
2009	469,792	23.1 (#2)	19 / 75	1	Opposition
2014	546,363	26.7 (#2)	25 / 75	6	Opposition
2019	435,878	21.4 (#2)	20 / 75	5	Coalition
2024	612.010	29.1 (#1)	26 / 75	6	Coalition

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Votes	%		Seats	+/-	EP Group
			F.E.C.	Overall
1979	André Damseaux	372,904	17.76 (#4)	6.85	2 / 24	New	LD
1984	Daniel Ducarme	540,610	24.14 (#2)	9.45	3 / 24	1	LDR
1989	François-Xavier de Donnea	423,479	18.90 (#2)	7.18	2 / 24	1
1994[a]	Jean Gol	541,724	24.25 (#2)	9.08	2 / 25	0	ELDR
1999[a]	Daniel Ducarme	624,445	26.99 (#1)	10.03	2 / 25	0
2004	Louis Michel	671,422	27.58 (#2)	10.35	3 / 24	1	ALDE
2009		640,092	26.05 (#2)	9.74	2 / 22	1
2014		661,332	27.10 (#2)	9.88	3 / 21	1
2019	Olivier Chastel	470,654	19.29 (#3)	7.06	2 / 21	1	RE
2024	Sophie Wilmès	900,413	34.88 (#1)	12.62	3 / 22	1

1. Run in a joint list with FDF.

Notable figures

• Sophie Wilmès
• Charles Michel
• Didier Reynders
• Louis Michel
• Pierre-Yves Jeholet
• Willy Borsus
• Christine Defraigne
• Daniel Ducarme
• Antoine Duquesne
• Jean Gol
• Sabine Laruelle
• Jacques Simonet
• Gérard Deprez

See also

• Liberalism
• Liberalism in Belgium
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberalism worldwide
• Liberal Archive

References

1. "Politieke fracties". Benelux Parliament (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 August 2023.
2. Walsh, David (2 October 2020). "Belgium: New seven-party coalition government officially sworn in". Euronews. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
3. Birnbaum, Michael (20 December 2019). "Without a government for a year, Belgium shows what happens to politics without politicians". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
4. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Wallonia/Belgium". Parties and Elections in Europe.
5. Almeida, Dimitri. "Liberal Parties and European Integration" (PDF).
6. Colin Hay; Anand Menon (18 January 2007). European Politics. Oxford University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-19-928428-3.
7. Chardon, Frédéric. "Des libéraux veulent créer un courant progressiste au MR: avec Christine Defraigne à leur tête?". La Libre.be (in French). Retrieved 2022-01-02.
8. "RLP, le nouveau «Rassemblement des libéraux progressistes» au sein du MR". Le Soir (in French). 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
9. Dimitri Almeida (2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-415-69374-5.
10. Hans Slomp (30 September 2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 465. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
11. Peter Starke; Alexandra Kaasch; Franca Van Hooren (7 May 2013). The Welfare State as Crisis Manager: Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-137-31484-0.
12. "MR and Open VLD celebrate 175 years of liberalism". ALDE Party. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
13. Times, The Brussels. "'A collaboration, not a fusion': MR and Les Engagés will work together in all governments". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
14. Times, The Brussels. "What's the latest on Belgium's Federal Government formation?". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
15. "Le Mouvement Réformateur: Statuts" (PDF) (in French). The Reformist Movement. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
16. "FDF almost unanimously votes in favour of split with MR" (in Dutch). deredactie.be. 25 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-25.
17. Chini, Maïthé; Taylor, Lukas (January 11, 2023). "A beginner's guide to Belgium's political parties". The Brussels Times. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
18. Josep M. Colomer (2008). Comparative European Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-203-94609-1. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
19. Rik Pinxten (2006). "Neo-nationalism and Democracy in Belgium: On understanding the contexts of neo-communitarianism". In André Gingrich; Marcus Banks (eds.). Neo-nationalism in Europe and Beyond: Perspectives from Social Anthropology. Berghahn Books. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-84545-190-5.
20. Dejace, Thibault (2023-03-06). "Quand le MR et la N-VA s'attaquent au "wokisme"". Moustique (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-12.
21. "Avec le MR, l'avenir s'éclaire". MR (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-12.
22. "Georges-Louis Bouchez: «Je suis belgicain et non, ce n'est pas ringard!»". sudinfo.be (in French). 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
23. "Projet - MR". Mr.be. 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
24. "Reconnaissance de la Palestine: pourquoi les libéraux sont-ils les seuls à s'y opposer?". RTL Info (in French). 2024-05-28. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
25. "Members Page CoR".
26. "Members Page CoR".
27. "Bureau". Renew Europe CoR. Retrieved 2021-04-12.

External links

Media related to Mouvement Réformateur at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website