Samenvatting

This research on the rate of actzvzty of the Members of the Belgian Senate is a remake of a study made five years ago by M. Dèweerdt, although the method is different (a global quotation has been used instead of summing up the length of bills, oral and written questions, etc...) the results are nearly the same. Half of parliamentary work (legislation and control) is performed by less than one fifth of the Members. The directly elected Members, who are also Members of the «Vlaamse Raad» or of the «Conseil de la Communauté française» or of the «Conseil Régional Wallon», seem also less active than their indirectly elected colleagues, which does not plead for the legally organized cumulation of mandates. The Members in charge of a municipal mandate are also less active than their colleagues. On the contrary, it was impossible to trace any link between language, parliamentary position (membership of majority or opposition), or sex and rate of parliamentary activity.