The Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement () 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 was 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 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:
Affligem Asse Beersel Bever Dilbeek Drogenbos Grimbergen Halle Hoeilaart Kampenhout Kapelle-op-den-Bos
Kraainem Lennik Liedekerke Linkebeek Londerzeel Machelen Meise Merchtem Opwijk Overijse Pajottegem
Pepingen Roosdaal Sint-Genesius-Rode Sint-Pieters-Leeuw Steenokkerzeel Ternat Vilvoorde Wemmel Wezembeek-Oppem Zaventem Zemst
Population Population as of 1 January in recent years:
Year Population 1990 533,719 1995 549,165 2000 558,220 2005 572,697 2010 593,455 2015 617,330 2017 627,247
References
See also Brussels Periphery (Vlaamse Rand)