Belgium Essay

Liliana Tintin
201412224
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................ 1
History........................................................................................................................ 2
Government............................................................................................................... 2
Economy..................................................................................................................... 3
International view....................................................................................................... 3
The separation rumor................................................................................................. 4
The interview.............................................................................................................. 5
Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 6

Introduction
Belgium is a very beautiful place in Europe located between the countries of France ( EastSouth), Germany and Luxemburg (West), and Netherlands (North). Belgium is conformed of
three parts which are the lower Belgium or the Flanders area, the upper Belgium or Wallooons
area and the Central Belgium or the Brussels area.
Belgium has three communities as well with its own flags, language, and culture: the Flemish
community with the language of Dutch, the French community with the language of French and
the German speaking community. Also Brussels being the capital of the country is the only part
that is Bilingual.
Belgium has a population of 11.082.744 inhabitants according to the 2013 statistics board found
in the Governments official web page. The official currency is the Euro since Belgium is part of
the EU. Its National Flag is three straight vertical lines starting with the color of black, yellow
and at the end red.
The form of government is Federal Monarchy meaning Belgium has a king and a federal
government.

History
Belgiums history is quite a complicated one considering the fact that it shares history with
France and with many other neighboring countries. A very interesting fact about Belgiums
history is the discovery of the Neanderthal skeletons in the city of Spy near Namur. This
discovery was of special importance since it proved the existence of men at prehistoric ages
dating up to 3000 years ago. The skeletons were discovered in 1886.
Belgium has always played an important role in the European community and thus Belgium has
encountered various historical moments that proved Belgium to be a somehow a neutral country
able to help others, an example of this is the battle of Waterloo which was a battle
between French and British forces.
The battle of Waterloo is just a quick example of how Belgium played the European role in its
history, as well as being one of the pioneers of the industrial revolutions, Belgium has been able
to maintain a quite stable view internationally.

Government
Belgiums government has a very interesting characteristic for it maintains, as well some other
European countries; a monarchy part intertwined within a federal parliamentary which is part of
a democratic structure. Belgium has a King as the head of the state but it also works with the
federal political authorities.
Belgium according to the official web site has a three level pyramid structure for the federal
authorities:
At the top level, we now find the Federal State, the Communities and the Regions,
all three of which are equal from the legal viewpoint. They are on an equal footing
but have powers and responsibilities for different fields. The next level down is still
occupied by the provinces. Before the state reform of 1993, the provinces were only
under the supervision of the central state. Now they are supervised by all the higher
government authorities, in the context of the federal, community or regional powers.
At the bottom of the pyramid, we find the communes, which is the level of
administration that is closest to the people. Like the provinces, they are under the
supervision of the higher authorities. Depending on the powers exercised, they are
supervised by the Federal State, the Community or the Region. In general, they are
financed and audited by the Regions.

The King also plays important roles in the country which include a political role (Consisting of
suggesting, advising, warning and encouraging and also taking an Oath) and a symbolic role

(Consisting of representation of the Nation, friendship travels and visits of courtesy to foster a
good image of Belgium). In this respect the representative and political (or diplomatic) areas
intermingle.
In Belgium, taking into consideration its history, monarchy fits into the legal and rational
constitutional framework, but at the same time monarchy carries out an emotional message. The
historical background of the three different regions of the country has also made it very
challenging to have a presidential democracy instead Belgium opted for having a federal
structure of democracy intertwined with its monarchy structure.

Economy
Belgiums economy is based on a modern, open, and private-enterprise economy; also it has a
diversified industrial and commercial base concentrated mainly in the more heavily-populated
region which is in the north part of Belgium known as the Flanders area or region.
Belgium has few natural resources leading up to having only 5% of agriculture and in terms of
trade leading up to having to import substantial quantities of raw materials and to export large
volumes of manufactures, making Belgiums economy vulnerable to the volatility in world
markets. Belgium's trades are generally with other EU countries, around three-quarters of its
trade, benefiting mostly from Germany because of its proximity.
Belgium's budget deficit and public debt is around 100% of its GDP, this factor has contributed
on having investor perceptions of the country becoming increasingly vulnerable to leak out from
the euro-zone crisis. Banks in Belgian were severely affected by the international financial
crisis in occurred in the year of 2008 with three of its major banks receiving capital injections
from the government, and the nationalization of the Belgian retail arm of a Franco-Belgian bank.

International view
Belgium is a small country but it holds a special place inside of Europe because of its history of
openness. Another important observation is the fact that Belgium is located between the most
important countries in Western Europe.
Belgium is also hub for international contacts. Having more than 1,000 public and private
international organizations that have set up their headquarters or have a permanent secretariat in
Belgium has made the country to become into a very highly competitive private enterprise sector.
One particular but important fact is that in addition to the institutions of the European Union, the
headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is also situated in Belgium.

Another important factor is that Belgium has held around five times a seat in the Security
Council in the Charter of the United Nations making this small country able to actively
participate in global issues many times and also participate in a number of historical moments in
the world.
However, Belgium is not only known internationally within the country, in addition to the
foreign presence inside Belgiums territory, Belgium is also being represented abroad in other
countries. Belgium is an exporting manufactures country and that has given the country a
presence on a global scale but Belgium also has always had an active foreign policy as well with
around 132 diplomatic and consular posts abroad, and a number of offices representing
Communities and Regions.
Having an active presence in the global community has enabled Belgium to continue to be
viewed in a certain way until now to have a European Role.

The separation rumor

It is no secret to the European community that tensions in Belgium are occurring nowadays
between the Flanders and Walloon communities. Tensions have always been there but it has been
increasing in a major way over recent years. Problems began to appear around the years of
1960s where relations between the communities began collapsing and jeopardizing the
formation of governments. Fights have been for cultural differences, language differences and
also economical differences. In 1962 a language border demarcating and dividing the Dutch and
French speaking regions was established.
In the early 1970s Belgium went through extensive constitutional reform in which three regions
were formed: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, the three regions were partially autonomous, each
of them having a government and a parliament in which they exercise their authority in different
issues such were: economy, employment, transport, energy, public works, environment, housing
and others. Belgium created as well three political entities to represent its ethnic groups which
were the French, Dutch and German speakers. Each of these communities have a government
and a parliament to deal with the issues of their language, culture, education and care.
Despite these reforms, problems within the communities continued throughout the 1980s and
in 1993 Belgium established a federal state with new set of reforms providing some more
additional autonomy to the regions. And yet problems and issues continue until today as Frenchspeaking southern region, who has struggled to recover economically from a postwar industrial
decline, argue that Dutch-speaking Flanders should show more solidarity in helping it through.
But the Flemish, who label Wallonia as sponging and feckless region do not seem content into
helping out considering themselves as more entrepreneurial and outward-looking. And here is
where the fighting continues.

The constant tensions are leading up to racism between the two regions and the central part of
Belgium where the capital is located seem to be entrapped between the two fighting regions
making begin to seem as an unreliable state today.
Only issues that affect all Belgians such as foreign affairs, defense, social security, justice and
finance are dealt with at a federal level.

The interview
Why do you think that Belgium is important in Europe according to your opinion?
Belgium has historical, geographical and political importance inside Europe. According to the
official page of Belgium, it has been a fundamental pillar for the EU economically and politically
as well. Besides today Belgium holds the headquarters of the EU in its capital Brussels.
In what do you think Belgium is different from your country in terms of Economy, religion
and others?
There are major differences between Belgium and Switzerland from which the most important
ones that I can mention are:
Economically: Switzerland is one of the strongest and most stable economies of the world. This
difference is basically because Switzerland has an independent currency ( the Swiss Franc) this
tool has helped Switzerland out in times of Crisis for by having its own currency Switzerland is
able to devaluate its currency when necessary.
Cultural: Even though the EU is relatively small in extension compared to Asia and America
they have broad cultural differences with a total of 24 languages of the country members. Each
country has its own cultural characteristics very well marked.
Political: Another difference is the political structure, in Belgium the political structure is
based on the Federal Monarchy with a king as a representative while in Switzerland a Federal
structure is used which includes seven representatives of presidency. Additionally to that,
Switzerland is the country with the most referendums in the world, making it a representative of
a direct democracy.
In your opinion, do you believe Belgium will separate? Why or why not?
Belgium fights are more of the cultural point of view so for me Belgium doesnt really have any
strong political incentive to separate, its dependency and participation in the EU doesnt allow
Belgium to separate for now.

Conclusion
In the end Belgium is a country that has a lot of historical background that supports it until today.
The economical structure that it has today and the political issues involving the separation
between the Flanders area and the Waloons area are increasingly damaging to the image of
Belgium in the global community and internally it is making it even more challenging for the
governmental structure to maintain it stable.
The solutions that I consider could be helpful to the country are as follows but whether at any
point of time Belgium actually might try to apply are not sure. For now the only stability that
Belgium has is the past activeness in many international organizations and the fact that it has the
headquarters in its territories, other than that protection over what might occur in the next 50
years is uncertain.
Possible solutions:

Full separation becoming three different states.

Con federalism: Having common interests like some foreign countries but the two parties will
have their own laws.
Separation, sharing Brussels as their capital city.
No separation, reunite Belgium again.

Arguments against and in favor of the separation

Pro

If separation, the other countries don't really care about it.

The Flemish will move on, on their own if Walloons don't wish to move on.
Minority dictatorship isn't affordable anymore so the Walloons would only stay to get some
money.
The Walloons and the Flemish don't know and dont wish to learn much about each other.
The two districts already have a lot of autonomy, why wouldn't a total autonomy work out?
The two districts would only stays together for Brussels.

Contra

The social security will disappear once the separation is completed.

If separation, the capital city of Europe, Brussels will be lost. Brussels can't be lost like
that it's a solidarity example of the two districts.
The symbols of Belgium will be lost..