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History and Government |
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Belgium,
History and Government History: In 1790, inspired by the events in France, a local rebellion led to the brief establishment of the United States of Belgium, although the country was invaded by France in 1794, remaining annexed until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. The allies subsequently attempted to unite the two Netherlands but a rebellion, in 1830, resulted in the London Conference establishing the Kingdom of Belgium. The late-19th and early-20th century was a period of social and political upheaval, although it was ultimately overshadowed by the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. At the start of the war, King Albert and his army made a stand against the invading Germans; within weeks they were pushed back to a line behind the Yser river, which they successfully held until 1918. The country suffered heavily from the war, not least because much of the fighting was conducted on its territory. The inter-war period saw the forging of the links between Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg, as well as the emergence of the Walloon/Flemish schism within Belgium itself (see below). The country was invaded by the Nazis in 1940, remaining occupied for the rest of the war. King Leopold, hounded by (largely justified) accusations of collaboration with the Nazis, remained in Switzerland after 1945; his nephew Baudouin succeeded in 1951. Belgium was a founder member of the Benelux Union and the EU, while Brussels is the headquarters of both NATO and the EU. Successive Belgian governments have given strong support to the Union and have generally favoured the integrationist policies laid down by the Maastricht Treaty. Belgium also has a relatively small but important colonial legacy in central Africa – the Democratic Republic of Congo (previously Zaïre and before that Belgian Congo), Rwanda and Burundi. The nature of Belgian involvement – Belgian Congo was originally established as, literally, the personal fiefdom of King Leopold – and their precipitate withdrawal from their African territories at the turn of the 1960s, did not augur well for the future of the newly independent countries. And so it has proved. Zaïre, despite enormous mineral wealth, has been ruined by the massively corrupt Mobutu regime, which received consistent support from successive Belgian governments. Rwanda and Burundi, meanwhile, have been repeatedly engulfed by ethnic conflict, most recently and tragically in 1994. Belgian intervention was confined to the evacuation of its own nationals. In general, Belgium epitomises a stable, cautiously progressive Western European liberal democracy. The alliance with the Netherlands and Luxembourg became the Benelux Union in 1958, which, in turn, became one of the foundation stones of the European Community. The principal domestic problem is the continuing tension between the Flemish-speaking north and the French-speaking south of the country, whose inhabitants are known as Walloons. Electoral politics have been dominated by coalitions, as none of the four major parties – the Socialists (PS), Christian Social (CVP), Flemish Liberal Democrats (VLD) and Liberal parties (PRL) – have been able to attract sufficient support to establish a government on their own. In addition, there are several smaller parties that have a significant influence over the outcome of elections – the ecological parties, Ecolo and Agalev, and the extreme right-wing Flemish separatist party, Vlaams Blok, recently renamed Vlaams Belang, Flemish Interest. Coalitions of four or five parties governed Belgium throughout the 1990s. In 1992, Belgium lost its popular and long-serving Head of State when King Baudouin died; his brother, Prince Albert, then succeeded to the Belgian crown. In 1993 (following previous reforms in 1980 and in 1988-89), a new constitutional arrangement came into effect, under which Belgium became a federal state – now comprising the largely autonomous region of Flanders, Wallonia and the bilingual Brussels district. A complicated three-tier system of local government (regional, provincial and communal) now prevails. Two months on from May 2003 elections, the Socialists and Liberals agreed to renew their coalition in government with Flemish Liberal Guy Verhofstad as Prime Minister. Between them, the parties have around two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The Green Party, which was a member of the previous coalition, retained only four seats in the elections. The political landscape in Belgium is complicated by the fact that each of the main political parties is split into two with one section representing the Dutch-speaking Flemish community and the other the French-speaking Walloons. A successful coalition must successfully balance the interests of both. In May 2005, the Government survived a confidence vote, enabling it to shelve a dispute over the voting rights of French-speakers in Dutch-speaking areas around Brussels. Months of negotiations over the issue had failed, sparking a political crisis. The far-right Vlaams Blok, which wanted Flemish independence and campaigned on an anti-immigration platform, increased its share of the vote substantially in regional and European elections in 2004. However, the High Court later ruled that the party was racist and stripped it of the right to state funding and access to television. The party was subsequently reconstituted under a new name, Vlaams Belang, Flemish Interest. Throughout the years, Belgium has evolved towards an efficient federal system. Five reforms have been necessary to achieve this (in 1970, 1980, 1988-89, 1993 and 2001). In 2005, Belgium celebrates 25 years of federalism and for the first time ever, article one of the Belgian Constitution states that: "Belgium is a federal state made out of communities and regions" (website: www.belgium.be/eportal/index.jsp). Government: |