Belgium by Henrik Mertns

BELGIUM

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Main facts about Belgium

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Flemish-Wallonian-Conflict

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Politics

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The capital: Brussels

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Typical for Belgium

Main facts - Belgium      

Officially “Kingdom of Belgium” “Belgium” derives from the roman province “Gallia Belgica“ Federal state in Western Europe It is a founding member of the European Union Covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres Population of about 11 million people

Main facts - Belgium 

Benelux (economic/customs union)

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1830: Belgian Revolution  secession from the Netherlands

Root of the language conflict 

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After the end of the Roman Empire the province of Belgica was declined into many dukedom‘s and earldom‘s 1477  reuniting Napoleon annexed belgian areas and allocateted them to the french state The Congress of Vienna allocated the areas 1815 to the Netherlands  result: Belgian Revolution Belgium became independent

Language- Conflict Divided in 3 language areas: - Flanders (dutch/“monolingual“)  north - Wallonia (french/“monolingual“)  south - Border to Germany (german)  After the Belgian Revolution (1830) French= official language  Dutch “language of the farmers“ was forbidden, even in Flanders 

Language- Conflict Opression of the dutch speakers  At the end of the 19th century a flemish movement was created  First success: bilingual lessons in school  Flemish-Wallonian-Conflict also a nationality conflict: Important factors Religion - Flanders mainly protestants - Walloons mainly catholics 

Language- Conflict Economy - In Flanders the economy is going well because of the biotechnology and the seaports in Antwerp and Zeebrügge - In Wallonia the economy is going badly: over 150 years the coal fields and blast furnaces brought prosperity but nowadays they are all empty unemployment rate increases

Politics Communities and Regions Three levels of political power: 1. The federal government, based in Brussels 2. The three language communities: - the Flemish Community (Dutch-speaking) - the French Community (French-speaking) - the German-speaking Community 3. The three regions: - the Flemish Region, subdivided into five provinces (Antwerp, Limburg, Flemish Brabant, East Flanders, West Flanders) ď&#x201A;&#x2014;

Politics Communities and Regions -

the Walloon Region, subdivided into five provinces (Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Namur, LiĂ¨ge, Luxembourg) the Brussels-Capital Region

Politics  

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Belgium is a constitutional, popular monarchy and a parliamentary democracy Formation of a government pretty difficult  each region has it‘s own partie‘s. No national partie‘s!!! Elections in 2007: over 6 months no government Elections in 2010: over 8 months no government Interim government under Yves Leterme (Region Flanders)

The capital: Brussels

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Official languages: french + dutch Head office of the European Union and NATO Largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities

Typical for Belgium ď&#x201A;&#x2014;

Fries!!!!

Typical for Belgium ď&#x201A;&#x2014;

Waffles!!!!

Typical for Belgium ď&#x201A;&#x2014;

Chocolate!!!!

Sources http://christian-franke.org/?p=1177  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium#Politi cs  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2874.ht m  http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107329. html 