The Common Community Commission (French: Commission communautaire commune, Dutch: Gemeenschappelijke Gemeenschapscommissie) is responsible for Brussels community matters that are common to both the French Community and the Flemish Community and for institutions that fall within the competencies of the Communities but do not belong exclusively to either Community in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. Examples of this include the bilingual hospitals in the Brussels Region.
The primary responsibilities of the Common Community Commission are health policy (curative and preventive medicine) and assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families, immigrant assistance services, etc...).
The Common Community Commission is composed of a council, the United Assembly, and an executive, the United College. The United Assembly consists of the members of both the Council of the Flemish Community Commission and the Assembly of the French Community Commission or, in other words, all members of the Brussels Parliament. The United College comprises all members of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, except the Secretaries of State. The United College is presided over by the Minister-President of the Brussels Region, who only has an advisory vote. As a result, there are two French-speaking and two Flemish members with the right to vote.
The United Assembly can legislate by ordinance. In order to adopt an ordinance, a majority of its members must be present and an absolute majority of the votes cast must be in favour. However, there must be also be a majority in each of the two language groups.
Famous quotes containing the words common, community and/or commission:
“The wildest dreams of wild men, even, are not the less true, though they may not recommend themselves to the sense which is most common among Englishmen and Americans to-day. It is not every truth that recommends itself to the common sense. Nature has a place for the wild clematis as well as for the cabbage. Some expressions of truth are reminiscent,—others merely sensible, as the phrase is,—others prophetic.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This is the only “wet” community in a wide area, and is the rendezvous of cow hands seeking to break the monotony of chuck wagon food and range life. Friday night is the “big time” for local cowboys, and consequently the calaboose is called the “Friday night jail.””
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Children cannot eat rhetoric and they cannot be sheltered by commissions. I don’t want to see another commission that studies the needs of kids. We need to help them.”
—Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)