Belgium’s youngest senator wants the Senate opened to students during exam periods
Mauro Michielsen, the Vooruit co-opted senator described by VRT NWS as the youngest senator in the country, wants the Belgian Senate in Brussels to be made available as a study space for students during the blokperiode.
In 30 seconds
- VRT NWS reported that Mauro Michielsen wants the Senate in Brussels opened to students during the blokperiode.
- Michielsen is a co-opted senator for Vooruit and has been described as the youngest senator in Belgium.
- The Senate is a federal institution but, since 2014, is composed mainly through regional and community parliaments.
- Brik’s Study Spaces project already opens Brussels locations to higher-education students during exam periods.
The subject is the Belgian Senate, the upper chamber of the Federal Parliament, and a proposal by Mauro Michielsen, co-opted senator for Vooruit, to open Senate premises in Brussels to students during exam-study periods. In Belgium’s current 2024-2029 legislative cycle, the Senate is no longer directly elected and has limited legislative powers, but it remains constitutionally relevant for institutional matters, appointments and federal-state questions. The practical question is whether a secured parliamentary building can be used, even temporarily, as part of Brussels’ wider network of study spaces.
Background
The Senate was created in 1831 as a full second chamber, but successive state reforms changed its role. The 1993 and 2014 reforms reduced its size and transformed it into a chamber representing Belgium’s federated entities. According to the Senate’s own institutional explanation, its composition fell from 184 members to 60, with 50 senators coming through regional and community parliaments and 10 co-opted members. Since 2014, its legislative role has been narrower, focused mainly on constitutional, institutional and federal-structure questions. That history is why even a modest public-access proposal carries a wider institutional subtext: the Senate is regularly discussed not only as a parliament, but as a building, symbol and cost centre.
What to do
Students should not assume the Senate is already available as a study location. Until there is an official announcement, the reliable options remain existing campus facilities, libraries and Brussels Study Spaces listings. If approved, students will likely need advance registration, ID checks and fixed time slots.
Impact
Regional — The direct impact would be in Brussels, where the Senate sits and where Brik already coordinates study spaces with universities, cultural venues, companies and public partners. If implemented, the measure would add a high-profile federal location to a regional student-service ecosystem rather than replace existing campus or city study rooms.
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- 30 Jun 2026, 02:00
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