BELGIUM - HSTORY OF BELGIUM - HISTORY WAVE

                             BELGIUM

BASIC INFO:

Population 2017                                                                 11,491,346

GDP per capita 2017 (PPI, US$)...                                         46,600

GDP 2017 (PPI, US$ billions)                                         528.5

Unemployment 2017                                                         7.3%

   

Total Area                                                                         30,528 sq km

Urban Population 98%

Life expectancy at birth (years)                                         81.1

Mortality rate, (per 1,000 live births)                                 3.4

Illiteracy (% of population age 15+)                                 0%

History

From the time of Julius Caesar Belgium was ruled by a series of rulers. In 1830 Belgium became and an independent monarchy. In both World War I and World War II Belgium's neutrality was violated by the Germans who invaded. It was a major battleground during the war. Belgium recovered rapidly from World War II and was a founding member of European Union.

Government

Government type:

federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy

Capital:

name: Brussels

Administrative divisions:

3 regions (French: regions, singular - region; Dutch: gewesten, singular - gewest); Brussels-Capital Region, also known as Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (Dutch), Region de Bruxelles-Capitale (French long form), Bruxelles-Capitale (French short form); Flemish Region (Flanders), also known as Vlaams Gewest (Dutch long form), Vlaanderen (Dutch short form), Region Flamande (French long form), Flandre (French short form); Walloon Region (Wallonia), also known as Region Wallone (French long form), Wallonie (French short form), Waals Gewest (Dutch long form), Wallonie (Dutch short form)

note: as a result of the 1993 constitutional revision that furthered devolution into a federal state, there are now three levels of government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a complex division of responsibilities; the 2012 sixth state reform transferred additional competencies from the federal state to the regions and linguistic communities

Independence:

4 October 1830 (a provisional government declared independence from the Netherlands); 21 July 1831 (King LEOPOLD I ascended to the throne)

National holiday:

Belgian National Day (ascension to the throne of King LEOPOLD I), 21 July (1831)

Constitution:

history: drafted 25 November 1830, approved 7 February 1831, entered into force 26 July 1831, revised 14 July 1993 (creating a federal state)

amendments: "revisions" proposed as declarations by the federal government in accord with the king or by Parliament followed by dissolution of Parliament and new elections; adoption requires two-thirds majority vote of a two-thirds quorum in both houses of the next elected Parliament; amended many times, last in 2014 (2016)

Legal system:

civil law system based on the French Civil Code; note - Belgian law continues to be modified in conformance with the legislative norms mandated by the European Union; judicial review of legislative acts

International law organization participation:

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

Citizenship:

citizenship by birth: no

citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Belgium

dual citizenship recognized: yes

residency requirement for naturalization: 5 years

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch:

chief of state: King PHILIPPE (since 21 July 2013); Heir Apparent Princess ELISABETH, daughter of the monarch

head of government: Prime Minister Charles MICHEL (since 11 October 2014); Deputy Prime Ministers Alexander DE CROO (since 22 October 2012), Jan JAMBON (since 11 October 2014), Kris PEETERS, Didier REYNDERS (since 30 December 2008)

cabinet: Council of Ministers formally appointed by the monarch

elections/appointments: the monarchy is hereditary and constitutional; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the monarch and approved by Parliament

Legislative branch:

description: bicameral Parliament consists of:

the Senate or Senaat (in Dutch), Senat (in French) (60 seats; 50 members indirectly elected by the community and regional parliaments based on their election results, and 10 elected by the 50 other senators; members serve 5-year terms

Chamber of Representatives or Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers (in Dutch), Chambre des Representants (in French) (150 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms)

note: the US does not recognize the legitimacy of the National Assembly

note: the 1993 constitutional revision that further devolved Belgium into a federal state created three levels of government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a complex division of responsibilities; this reality leaves six governments, each with its own legislative assembly; changes above occurred since the sixth state reform

elections: Chamber of Representatives - last held on 25 May 2014 (next to be held in May 2019); note - elections will coincide with the EU's elections

election results: Chamber of Representatives - percent of vote by party - N-VA 20.3%, PS 11.7%, CD&V 11.6%, Open VLD 9.8%, MR 9.6%, SP.A 8.8%, Groen 5.3%, CDH 5% PTB 3.7%, VB 3.7%, Ecolo 3.3%, Defi 1.8%, PP 1.5%, other 3.9%; seats by party - N-VA 33, PS 23, MR 20, CD&V 18, Open VLD 14, SP.A 13, CDH 9, Ecolo 6, Groen 6, VB 3, Defi 2, PTB 2, PP 1

Judicial branch:

highest court(s): Constitutional Court or Grondwettelijk Hof (in Dutch) and Cour constitutionelle (in French) (consists of 12 judges - 6 Dutch-speaking and 6 French-speaking); Supreme Court of Justice or Hof van Cassatie (in Dutch) and Cour de Cassation (in French) (court organized into 3 chambers: civil and commercial; criminal; social, fiscal, and armed forces; each chamber includes a Dutch division and a French division, each with a chairperson and 5-6 judges)

judge selection and term of office: Constitutional Court judges appointed by the monarch from candidates submitted by Parliament; judges appointed for life with mandatory retirement at age 70; Supreme Court judges appointed by the monarch from candidates submitted by the High Council of Justice, a 44-member independent body of judicial and non-judicial members; judges appointed for life

subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal; regional courts; specialized courts for administrative, commercial, labor, immigration, and audit issues; magistrate's courts; justices of the peace

Political parties and leaders:

Flemish parties:

Christian Democratic and Flemish or CD&V [Wouter BEKE]

Flemish Liberals and Democrats or Open VLD [Gwendolyn RUTTEN]

Groen [Meyrem ALMACI] (formerly AGALEV, Flemish Greens)

New Flemish Alliance or N-VA [Bart DE WEVER]

Social Progressive Alternative or SP.A [John CROMBEZ, Stephanie VAN HOUTVEN]

Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) or VB [Tom VAN GRIEKEN]

Francophone parties:

Ecolo (Francophone Greens) [Patrick DUPRIEZ, Zakia KHATTABI]

Francophone Federalist Democrats or Defi [Olivier MAINGAIN]

Humanist and Democratic Center or CDH [Benoit LUTGEN]

People's Party or PP [Mischael MODRIKAMEN]

Reform Movement or MR [Olivier CHASTEL]

Socialist Party or PS [Elio DI RUPO]

Workers' Party or PTB [Peter MERTENS]

other minor parties

People

Belgians are divided linguistically into Dutch speakers, called Flemings, and French speakers, called Walloons, with a nominally bilingual population in Brussels. Some 67,000 German speakers live in the east. Approximately 900,000 foreigners reside in Belgium as well. Population density is the second highest in Europe, after the Netherlands.

Tourism

Tourism is an imporant source of income for Belgium. In 2017 the country recorded 38,677,308 overnight stays that was up 5% from 2016 and 1% from 2015. The terror attack in 2016 had depressed tourism. The total number of individual tourist in 2017 was 16.3 million.