Article 96 [Establishing Government]
(1) The King appoints and dismisses his ministers.
(2) The Federal Government
offers its resignation to the King
if the House of Representatives, by an absolute majority of its
members, adopts a motion of disapproval, proposing to the
King the nomination of a successor to the Prime Minister, or
proposes to the King the nomination of a successor to the Prime
Minister within three days of the rejection of a motion of
confidence. The King names the proposed successor as Prime
Minister, who takes office the moment the new federal
Government is sworn in.
Article 97 [Eligibility for Government]
Belgians alone may be ministers.
Article 98 [Royal Incompatibility]
No member of the royal family may be a minister.
Article 99 [Composition of Government]
(1) The Council of Ministers includes fifteen members at most.
(2) With the possible exception of the Prime Minister, the
Council of Ministers includes as many French-speaking
members as Dutch-speaking members.
Article 100 [Government in Parliament]
(1) Ministers have access to both Houses and must be heard
whenever they so request.
(2) The House of Representatives may demand the presence of
ministers. The Senate may request their presence for discussion
of a motion or a draft bill as described in Article 77 or of
a motion or a draft bill as described in Article 78, or for
the exercise of its right to investigate as described in Article
56. For other matters, the Senate may request their
presence.
Article 101 [Responsibility, Indemnity]
(1) Ministers are responsible before the House of Representatives.
(2) No minister may be prosecuted or pursued on account of
opinions expressed in the line of his duties.
Article 102 [Exclusive Responsibility]
Under no circumstances may a written or verbal order of the King
diminish the responsibilities of a minister.
Article 103 [Control]
(1) The House of Representatives has the right to accuse ministers
and to confront them before the Supreme Court of Appeal, the
latter alone having authority to judge them, Chambers assembled,
except for that which is statuted by law, regarding the exercising
of a civil suit by a victimized party and regarding crimes and
misdeeds which ministers may have committed outside their line
of duty.
(2) Cases of responsibility are determined by law, as are the
sentences and the manner of proceeding against them, either on
the basis of the accusations introduced in the House of
Representatives or on the basis of a civil suit emanating from a
victimized part.
(3) Until being covered by the law described in Paragraph (2), the
House of Representatives holds discretionary powers to accuse a
minister, and the Supreme Court of Appeal to judge him, in those
cases established by penal laws and by the application of those
sentences foreseen.
Article 104 [Secretaries of State]
(1) The King appoints and dismisses the federal Secretaries of
State.
(2) The latter are members of the federal Government. They are
not part of the Council of Ministers. They are deputies to a
minister.
(3) The King determines their attributions and the limits within
which they may engage in countersigning.
(4) Constitutional provisions which apply to ministers apply
equally to federal Secretaries of State, with the exception of
Articles 90 (2), 93, and 99.