The Civil Service in Belgium - Between Fragmentation and Common Principles

Four trends have characterised the evolution of the Belgian civil service: the federalisation of the country, the Europeanisation of the administrative system, the influence of New Public Management ideas, and the growing importance over time of private law employment contracts. Taken together, these trends have contributed to deeply reshaping the law regulating the Belgian civil service and the logic of the “career system” that it encompasses, even though the main logics of hierarchy, neutrality, and professionalism remain standing. These trends have further contributed to the fragmentation of the law regulating the Belgian civil service, while also introducing and protecting some elements of uniformity in the form of common principles.