Reformist Movement

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Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox political party The Reformist Movement<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (Template:Langx Template:IPA, MR) is a liberal<ref name="Nordsieck">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="almeida">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="HayMenon2007">Template:Cite book</ref> French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal<ref name="chardon1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="lesoir1">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Almeida2012">Template:Cite book</ref> and conservative-liberal factions.<ref name="Slomp2011">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="StarkeKaasch2013">Template:Cite book</ref> Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest parties on the European continent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Having a majority on the French-speaking side of the Federal parliament, they joined forces to work on the formation of a new Belgian government.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The MR is an alliance between four liberal parties, three French-speaking and one German-speaking. 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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. The MR is generally positioned in the centre-right or right of the political spectrum.<ref name="Colomer2008">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Pinxten2006">Template:Cite book</ref>

During Georges-Louis Bouchez's tenure as party president, the party is said to have shifted further to the right,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with critics of the party even going so far as to say that the positions of some of its members were increasingly moving towards the far-right.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bouchez has for example often publicly pointed out some excesses of the woke movement<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and he welcomed former members of the far-right Chez Nous party to the MR.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> MR is "belgicain", in favor of Belgian unity and a strong federal state.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Foreign policy

The MR is also a strong supporter of the European Union and NATO.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Electoral positioning

During the 2019 election campaign, the RePresent research centre — composed of political scientists from five universities (UAntwerpen, KU Leuven, VUB, UCLouvain and ULB)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Libre2019">Template:Cite web</ref> — studied the electoral programmes of Belgium's thirteen main political parties. This study classified the parties on two "left-right" axes, from "-5" (extreme left) to "5" (extreme right): a "classic" socio-economic axis, which refers to state intervention in the economic process and the degree to which the state should ensure social equality, and a socio-cultural axis, which refers to a divide articulated around an identity-based opposition on themes such as immigration, Europe, crime, the environment, emancipation, etc.<ref name="Libre2019" />

The MR then presented a centre-right programme (0.85) on the socio-economic level, and the most centrist (0.4) of the Belgian political spectrum on the socio-cultural level.<ref name="Libre2019" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The RePresent centre repeated the exercise during the 2024 election campaign for the twelve main parties. The MR's positioning shifted towards the right on the socio-cultural axis (1.35) and especially on the socio-economic axis (3.57), where it became the most right-wing Belgian political party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Presidents

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 two full and three alternate members for the 2020-2025 mandate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Willy Borsus is second vice-president of the Renew Europe CoR Group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Election results

Chamber of Representatives

Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
1995 623,250 10.3 Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1999 630,219 10.1 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1 Template:Yes2
2003 748,954 11.4 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:Yes2
2007 835,073 12.5 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1 Template:Yes2
2010 605,617 9.3 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 5 Template:Yes2
2014 650,260 9.6 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 2 Template:Yes2
2019 512,825 7.6 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 6 Template:Yes2
2024 716,934 10.3 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:Yes2

Senate

Election Votes % Seats +/-
1995 672,798 11.2 Template:Composition bar
1999 654,961 10.6 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0
2003 795,757 12.2 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0
2007 815,755 12.3 Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1
2010 599,618 9.3 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 2

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
Template:Abbr Overall
1989 83,011 18.9 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1995 144,478 35.0 (#1) Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 13 Template:Yes2
1999 146,845 40.1 (#1) 34.4 (#1) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1 Template:Yes2
2004 127,122 32.5 (#2) 28.0 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 2 Template:No2
2009 121,905 29.8 (#1) 26.5 (#1) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1 Template:No2
2014 94,227 23.0 (#2) 20.4 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 6 Template:No2
2019 65,502 16.9 (#3) 14.3 (#3) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 5 Template:No2
2024 101,157 26.0 (#1) Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 7 Template:Tba

Walloon Parliament

Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
1995 447,542 23.7 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:No2
1999 470,454 24.7 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 2 Template:Yes2
2004 478,999 24.3 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1 Template:No2
2009 469,792 23.1 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1 Template:No2
2014 546,363 26.7 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:No2
2019 435,878 21.4 (#2) Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 5 Template:Yes2
2024 612.010 29.1 (#1) Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 6 Template:Yes2

European Parliament

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

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Notable figures

See also

References

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