abstract |
In 2011 the formation of a new federal government led to an agreement on the so-called ‘sixth State re- form’, which regulates the transfer of federal powers to the Communities. Amongst many other things, the sixth State reform resulted in the transfer of the Flemish Houses of Justice to the Flemish Commu- nity. This means that the Government of Flanders is officially responsible for the organization, tasks and functioning of the Flemish Houses of Justice since July 1st 2014. In this article we focus on the results of a research project that tried to capture the reflections of important stakeholders on this particular part of the sixth State reform. First we contextualize our research with an overview of the steps that have been taken since the political agreement on the sixth State reform. We then briefly describe our research methodology, discuss the main findings of our research project and compare them with the conclusions of the Flemish Conference on the Houses of Justice that was held in December 2015. To conclude, we of- fer some critical reflections on the challenges that lie ahead. |