Arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde

Administrative Arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement Halle-Vilvoorde
Arrondissement
Location of the arrondissement in Flemish Brabant
Coordinates: 50°51′N 4°12′E / 50.85°N 4.2°E
Country	Belgium
Region	Flemish Region
Province	Flemish Brabant
Municipalities	35
Area
• Total	942.93 km2 (364.07 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2017)
• Total	627,247
• Density	670/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

The Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement (Dutch: Arrondissement Halle-Vilvoorde; French: Arrondissement de Hal-Vilvorde) is one of the two administrative arrondissements in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. It almost completely surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region and lies to the west of the other arrondissement in the province, the Leuven Arrondissement. Unlike the Arrondissement of Leuven, it is not a judicial arrondissement; however since the sixth Belgian state reform in 2012–14, it has its own public prosecutor's service.

The Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement and the Brussels-Capital Region together formed the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral district and the Judicial Arrondissement of Brussels. Following the 2007 federal election, Yves Leterme, who is in charge of the negotiations for forming a new Federal Government, proposed to split up the Judicial Arrondissement of Brussels into two judicial arrondissements: one comprising Halle-Vilvoorde and the other comprising the Brussels Region.

History

The municipalities with language facilities near Brussels

The Arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde was established in 1963 when the language borders were determined. At that time, the then Administrative Arrondissement of Brussels, which had the same territory as the present-day Judicial Arrondissement of Brussels, was split into three administrative arrondissements, two of which still exist today:

• Brussels-Capital, which consists of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels Region;
• Halle-Vilvoorde, a unilingual Dutch-speaking administrative arrondissement;
• Brussels-Periphery, which consisted of the six Flemish municipalities with language facilities for French-speakers around Brussels.

On January 1, 1971, the Arrondissement of Brussels-Periphery ceased to exist and its municipalities were added to Halle-Vilvoorde.

In 1977, the then municipality of Muizen ceased to exist and was ceded to the Arrondissement of Mechelen, in the Province of Antwerp.

Municipalities

The Administrative Arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde is made up of the following municipalities:

Population

Population as of 1 January in recent years:

See also

• Brussels Periphery (Vlaamse Rand)