Reformist Movement

The Reformist Movement^[2][3] (French: Mouvement réformateur [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]

AbbreviationMR

PresidentGeorges-Louis Bouchez

Founded24 March 2002; 23 years ago (2002-03-24)

Mergerof

• Liberal Reformist Party
• Citizens' Movement for Change
• Democratic Front of Francophones

Quick facts Abbreviation, President ...

Reformist Movement Mouvement réformateur
Abbreviation	MR
President	Georges-Louis Bouchez
Founded	24 March 2002; 23 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)
Political position	Centre-right to right-wing
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 ('The Future is Brighter')
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 / 22
Benelux Parliament	3 / 22
Website
mr.be
Politics of Belgium Political parties Elections

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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 government.^[14]

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.^[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]