POLITICS OF BELGIUMBenedict (Viktor) Gombocz

GEOGRAPHY OF BELGIUM Location: Western Europe,

bordering the North Sea, between France and the Netherlands

Area Total: 30,528 km Country comparison to the world: 141 Land: 30,278 sq km Water: 250 sq km

Area – comparative: About the size of Maryland

Land boundaries: Total: 1,385 km Border countries: France 620 km,

Germany 167 km, Luxembourg 148 km, Netherlands 450 km

Coastline: 66.5 km

PHYSICAL MAP OF BELGIUM

RELIGION IN BELGIUM The predominate religion in Belgium in

Belgium is Christianity; the largest denomination is Catholicism, with roughly 57% of the population belonging to the Catholic Church, 1.7% to Protestantism, and 0.3% to Orthodox Christian Churches in the 2000s.

Belgium abides by separation of Church and State and freedom of religion; the State may not force anyone to follow a specific religion, nor can it ask anyone which religion he/she follows.

Islam is the second biggest religion; 6% of the population is Muslim (3.9% in Flanders, 4% in Wallonia, 25.5% in Brussels), or even 8.1% as of 2011 (counting all the immigrants with Islamic background).

A 2006 inquiry in Flanders revealed that 55% of its citizens claimed they are religious, while 36% believe that God created the world.

A 2011 survey by Ipsos MORI indicated that 49% of the population follows Christianity, 6% follows Islam, 4% follows unnamed other religions, 2% follows Buddhism, 31% is non-religious, and 8% declined to answer.

RELIGION STATISTICS Roman Catholic: 75% Other (includes Protestant): 25%

BACKGROUND OF BELGIUM’S POLITICAL SYSTEM The political system of Belgium functions in a structure of a federal parliamentary

representative democratic constitutional monarchy, with the King of the Belgians as Head of State and the PM of Belgium as head of government in a multi-party structure.

The government exercises executive power; federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives.

The federation is comprised of (cultural/political) communities and (territorial) regions.

The political institutes of Belgium are complicated. Belgium, with an astonishing number of political bodies and institutes on a small

land of 30,500 square kilometers, claims the European record of the most expensive political structure: at least 57 ministers and state secretaries stretch across six different governments, enclosed by seven parliaments and a dozen local governments.

This complex political structure is considered to have led to the constant communitarian clashes (and additionally as a major cause of the accelerating national debt-issue) in the country.

Most political power is prepared around the necessity to represent the key cultural (and political) communities.

BACKGROUND OF BELGIUM’S POLITICAL SYSTEM (CONT.)

Since about 1970, the major national Belgian political parties have separated into individual representations for every communities’ benefit, defense of their ideologies aside.

These parties belong to three key political families, but are close to the centre: the right-wing Liberals, the social conservative Christian Democrats, and the left-wing Socialists.

Other notable newer parties are the Green parties, and currently (chiefly in Flanders), the nationalist and far-right parties.

Politics in Belgium is influenced by lobby groups, including trade unions and employers’ organizations, like the Federation of Belgian Enterprises.

Majority rule is frequently overruled by a de facto confederal decision making procedure in which the minority, i.e., French speakers, are entitled to essential protections by specialty majorities (2/3 overall and majority in both of the two main communities).

GOVERNMENT OF BELGIUM Capital (and largest city):

Brussels* Official language(s): Dutch,

French, German Demonym: Belgian Government: Federal

parliamentary constitutional monarchy

King: Albert II Prime Minister: Elio Di Rupo Legislature: Federal Parliament Upper house: Senate Lower house: Chamber of

Representatives

*While the Brussels region is the de facto capital, the City of Brussels municipality is the de jure capital

MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES Main Flemish parties:

Christian Democratic and Flemish (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams, CD & V)

Groen (Groen) Libertarian, Direct, Democratic (Libertair, Direct,

Democratisch, LDD) New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie,

N-VA) Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse

Liberalen en Democraten, Open Vld) Socialist Party – Differently (Socialistische Partij

Anders, sp.a) Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang, VB)

Main French-speaking parties: Ecolo Francophone Democratic Federalists (Fédéralistes

Démocrates Francophones, FDF) Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre démocrate

humaniste, CdH) Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS) Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur,

MR) Citizens’ Movement for Change (Mouvement des

Citoyens pour le Changement, MCC)

German-speaking parties: Christian Social Party (Christlich-Soziale Partei, CSP) Party for Freedom and Progress (Partei für Freiheit

und Fortschritt, PFF) ProDG (Pro deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft)

CONSTITUTION Belgium’s constitution, the country’s principal source of law and its

basis of the political structure, went into effect on 7 February 1831. It has been amended various times, but the most significant

changes were carried out only in 1970 and 1993. In 1970, in reaction to a rising civil clash between the Dutch-

speaking and French-speaking communities in Brussels, the Government proclaimed that “the unitary state, its structure and functioning as laid down by law, had become obsolete”.

The new constitution acknowledged the reality of strong communitarian and regional distinctions within Belgium, but wanted to settle those distinctions by a distribution of power to the communities and the regions.

In 1993, the parliament authorized a legal package that turned Belgium into a full-fledged federal state.

ALBERT II Born 6 June 1934 at the Stuyvenberg

Castle.

Current King of the Belgians since 9 August 1993; succeeded his older brother, King Baudouin, who passed away without issue.

Is a member of the royal house of Belgium, previously called Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Is the uncle of the current ruling Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri.

Is the second son of King Leopold III (1901-1983) and his first wife, Astrid of Sweden (1905-1935).

His godparents were Prince Felix of Luxembourg and his paternal grandmother, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium.

Is the first cousin of King Harald V of Norway, Princess Astrid of Norway, and Princess Ragnhild of Norway.

ELIO DI RUPO Born 18 July 1951 in Morlanwelz. Current PM of Belgium; assumed

office on 6 December 2011 and leads the Di Rupo I Government.

Also the current leader of the Socialist Party (PS).

First Francophone to hold the post since Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1979; also Belgium’s first socialist PM since Edmond Leburton’s departure from office in 1974.

Also the first Belgian PM of non-Walloon or Flemish descent and the only openly homosexual leader of an EU member state.

PARTI SOCIALISTE Francophone social-democratic political party; founded in

1978.

Second biggest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the biggest Francophone party as of the 2010 general election.

Led by Elio Di Rupo, current PM of Belgium, as of 6 December 2011.

Also supplies the Minister-Presidents of the Walloon region and French Community (Rudy Demotte), the Brussels-Capital Region (Charles Picqué), and the German-speaking Community (Karl-Heinz Lambertz) of Belgium.

Known as the Sozialistische Partei (SP) in the German-speaking community.

Frequently participates in governing coalitions; rules most local authorities due to the extremely fragmented nature of Belgium’s political institutes, especially in Francophone areas.

Has concurrently managed five provincial executive bodies in the years since 1999: the Government of the French Community, the Walloon Government, the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, plus the COCOF, a local subsidiary of the French Community Government in Brussels, and the Government of the German-speaking Community.

The party, or its members, have on occasion been tried for criminal activities and political scandals, regarding mostly corruption and financial scam, such as the Cools assassination, the Agusta scandal, the Dassault Affair, the Carolorégienne affair, and the ICDI affair; the Carolorégienne affair led to Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe’s resignation as Minister-President of the Walloon region.

Member of Socialist International (International affiliation), Party of European Socialists (European affiliation), and Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (EP group).

THE END (HET EINDE, LA FIN, DAS ENDE)