Belgium Crisis

Belgium is located in the core of the Western European political institutions, having both the European Commission (EC) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters situated in the capital city, Brussels. It is situated at a crossroads of Europe, from both the geographical and cultural point of view. The country won its independence in 1830, after having been almost continuously occupied by foreign powers, from Romans to the Spanish, the Austrians, the French, the Dutch and the Germans in the past, due to an uprising of the people. Belgium is a cultural and linguistic union, which came into existence after the merger of the French-speaking people of Wallonia, the Dutch-speaking people of Flanders and the German-speaking people, which represent a smaller community in the South.

The country formed in 1831 was a unitary state, with French, which was considered the language of the bourgeoisie, as an official language. Dutch was recognized as an official language by the end of the century, and this was done essentially for education and administrative purposes. The capital region of Brussels remained bilingual. The linguistic and economical differences existent in the country led to a division of the Belgian society, division which was even more accentuated by the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century. The region of Wallonia was more developed in that period, it became an early industrial boom area and it dominated Flanders, from both the political and economical point of view. But in the past 50 years, the Flemish people regained their power and outnumber now the French-speaking people in terms of population.

The development of two separate party systems began in the 19th century, opposing the Catholics and the liberals on the issue of the religion neutrality of the bourgeois state. After the breakthrough of the socialists, at the end of that century, and the politicisation of the socioeconomic left–right cleavage, the Belgian party system constituted a clear-cut example of a two and a half party type , until 1965, when the three traditional parties, Christian Democrats (Parti Social Chretien–Christelijke Volkspartij, Christian Peoples Party–Social Christian Party, PSC-CVP), Socialists (Parti Socialiste Belge–Belgische Socialistische Partij, Belgian Socialist Party, PSB-BSP) and Liberals (Parti Liberal–Liberale Partij, Liberal Party, PL-LP) alternately shared governmental office in different coalition combinations.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the number of parties represented in Parliament rose dramatically, from four in 1949, to 14 in 1981. Since then, in spite of a slight decrease in the number of parties, the degree of fragmentation continuously rose until 1999. With successive reforms, which turned Belgium into a federal state, the party system broke up into two linguistic segments between which there is no electoral competition, in spite of increasing ideological polarisation between them. Since this break-up, no national parties have existed and there have been two distinct party systems: a Flemish and a francophone one.

The French and the Flemish politics are two different worlds and they are drifting even further apart. In the past, the country was able to function well, due to the fact that the Flemish society was bilingual and it remained involved in the francophone cultural and economical life. But, gradually, the two regions emerged and this led to continuous reforms in the state.

In the period from 1988 to 1989, some changes were made to the Constitution, in order to raise the power of regions and communities. Communities were in charge of, among others, most matters relating to language, culture, education, scientific research and finances, while regions dealt with competencies such as economy, employment, transport, energy and environment. As a consequence, they were also granted additional revenue. Then, in 1993, the Constitution was again amended and Belgium went from a unitary state to a federal state and Wallonia, Flanders and the capital region of Brussels became autonomous regions. The regions and communities have important powers in a number of domains, like education, local economic policy, agriculture, healthcare, environmental issues, research and development and various public works and over the years the role of the government has been decreasing.