Belgium

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CIRIEC-Belgium is a non-profit research association and is one of the founding sections of CIRIEC international. CIRIEC-Belgium ensures the permanent secretariat of the international association since 1957, and sets a specialised university-level dedicated documentation centre in public, social and cooperative economy at disposal.

CIRIEC’s objectives are to undertake and promote the collection of information, scientific research, and the publication of works on economic sectors and activities oriented towards the service of the general and collective interest: public action and policies; public utilities, infrastructures, networks and mixed enterprises at national, regional and local level; the so-called “social economy” (not-for-profit economy, cooperatives, mutuals, and non-profit organizations); workers’ participation; etc.

CIRIEC’s members are enterprises and organisations associated with network-economics, either socio-political networks (government agencies, public administrations, socio-professional federations, trade unions, …), or technical networks (public utilities, public or regulated enterprises, …); enterprises and organisations from the “social economy” sector (cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, non-profit or not-for-profit enterprises and organisations); experts and individual researchers from universities and research centres interested in CIRIEC’s activities.

CIRIEC-Belgium hosts since the 80s the CIRIEC Documentation Center. The CIRIEC documentation center serves a variety of objectives. The most important is to collect, treat and disseminate specialized information in the fields of public, social and cooperative economy. To that end, documentalists offer various services, host some foreign doctoral students, provide documentary watch in its fields of interest, assistance in documentary research allowing the users to easily find some documents about a particular subject,…

LEAFLET

Newsletter:

The newsletter CIRIEC Belgium Network Information to Members informs CIRIEC-Belgium members of Belgian and international news, publications, conferences, call for papers,… in public, social and cooperative economy.

Available in French and English.

To register: devenir membre

Officers

Updated: 25 06 2024

Honorary President:
Leona DETIEGE
former Minister
former Member of the Senate
former Mayor of the City of Antwerp
former President of the users’ Committee of P&V
former President of CIRIEC-Belgium (1980-2020)

President:
Inne MERTENS
Chief executive Officer, Sibelga

Vice-Presidents:

Lies LARIDON
Mayor of Diksmuide

Pascal LIZIN
Chairman of the Board, Samabriva
Director of Kitozyme SA & Industrya (John Cockerill)

General Secretary:
Barbara SAK

President of the Scientific Council:
Marc BOURGEOIS
Ordinary Professor, Faculty of Law, ULiège (tax law and public finance law); President of the ULiège Tax Institute

Treasurer:
Josly PIETTE
former Federal Minister of Employment
former President, Management Board of the National Social Security Office (ONSS)

Prize Joseph Merlot - Joseph Leclerc 2023

The Prize Joseph Merlot-Joseph Leclercq was created by the Belgian Section of CIRIEC in 1964 and aims to reward a PhD in the field of public economics. (List of all Prizes already awarded)
This triennial Prize-Doctorate is intended to honour the memory of two pioneering promotors of public enterprise and aims to stimulate research on the public economy, especially in the area of services of general interest, public policy and evaluation tools.

The 2023 Prize is financed by the Province of Liège, RESA (main operator of the electricity and gas distribution networks in the Province of Liège) and intercommunal from Liège CILE and Intradel, which are active in water supply and waste management respectively . These sponsors thus perpetuate the memory of the founders of the Belgian Section of CIRIEC.

Complete rules 2023: FR – NL

The 2023 award winner is Marie DeCock for her thesis, “De hybriditeit van intergemeentelijke samenwerkingsverbanden: geklemd tussen publiek en privaat, tussen overheid en onderneming (The hybridity of inter-municipal cooperation Caught between public and private, between government and undertaking)”. Her work provides a concrete and operational approach and direct interest to public policy recommendations.

Marie DeCock is a visiting Researcher at Yale University (USA) in ’23-’24. Assistant Professor of Administrative Law at Hasselt University and Maastricht University (NL), and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).

Biography
Abstract
Thesis

In the frame of the Joseph Merlot-Leclercq Prize 2023, a specific RESA Centenary Prize was also awarded. The award winner is Laura Molinari for her thesis “Essays on infrastructure management”. Addressing many aspects aimed at optimizing the strategic and financial management of infrastructures from the investment decision stage, her work falls in line with the necessary energy transition plans for meeting society’s decarbonization objectives.

Biography
Abstract
Thesis
Presentation

Prize Joseph Merlot - Joseph Leclerc 2021

After decision of the jury, the 2021 Prize was not awarded.

Complete rules 2021: FR – NL

Prize Joseph Merlot - Joseph Leclerc 2018-2019

The 2018-2019 award winner is Bert George for his thesis “Unravelling the Determinants of Strategic Planning Effectiveness in Public Organizations: A Strategic Decision-Making Perspective at the Individual and Organizational Level” focusing on the public sector.