1.
Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German
2.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
3.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
4.
Senate (Belgium)
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The Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. The 2014 elections were the first ones without an election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is completely composed of members of community and regional parliaments and it is a chamber of the communities and regions and serves as a platform for discussion and reflection about matters between the different language communities. The Senate now only plays a minor role in the federal legislative process. Since the reform, it holds about ten plenary sessions a year. After the Belgian Revolution, the National Congress decided about the Belgian Constitution, a bicameral Parliament was chosen over a unicameral one, due to fears of more democratic and progressive decisions in the Chamber of Representatives, as was seen in France. Thus the Senate served as a conservative and elite body. To be eligible, one had to pay 1000 francs, which meant that at that time, the Flemish nationalist party New Flemish Alliance, among other Flemish parties, said in 2010 that they want to abolish the Senate. The French-speaking parties, however, want to keep the Senate, since the sixth state reform, the Senate consists of 60 members. 50 are elected by the community and regional parliaments, and 10 are co-opted members, prior to the Belgian federal election of May 21,1995, there were 184 elected senators. The change took effect following the May 21,1995 federal election, of the total of 71 elected senators,40 were elected directly,21 appointed by the community parliaments and 10 senators were co-opted. The overall distribution of seats between parties was determined by the results of the direct election. The sixth state reform, taking effect on the May 25,2014 election, reduced the number of senators from 71 to 60, the German-speaking senator is chosen by plurality, the other Senate seats are distributed based on the results for the Chamber of Representatives election. These Community senators hold a double mandate and they are appointed to the Senate for a term of 4 years, but as the Community parliaments are renewed every 5 years, it is possible that regional elections take place during these 4 years. Ten Senators are co-opted, meaning they are elected by their peers, six by the Dutch-language group and these seats are distributed between parties using the direct election results. In 1893, the members were included in the Constitution as a new category of Senators. Until the elections of 25 May 2014, the Senate contained 40 directly elected members, to elect these members, the electorate was divided into two electoral colleges, a Dutch and a French electoral college
5.
Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
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The Chamber of Representatives is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the house of the Federal Parliament. Article 62 of the Belgian Constitution fixes the number of seats in the Chamber of Representatives at 150, there are 11 electoral districts, which correspond with the ten Provinces and the Brussels-Capital Region. The seats are divided among the parties using the DHondt method of proportional representation. There is a threshold of 5%. The Representatives are divided into two so-called language groups, for the representatives from the Brussels region, the language in which they take their oath as a representative determines which language group they belong to. Following the 2007 federal election, the Chamber has a German-speaking member for the first time since 1999, nevertheless, because of the Belgian constitution, both linguistic communities are granted equal powers in the parliament. Although in general bills can be passed without a majority in both groups, bills relating to specific issues can not and need the consent of both language groups. The following table shows the current distribution of seats between the groups and the electoral districts. A representative can only enter into office after having taken the oath of office and he or she can also choose to take the oath in more than one language. The oath of office is as follows, I swear to observe the Constitution, certain offices are incompatible with the office of representative. The same applies the other way around as well, a representative who takes the oath of office in a regional or community parliament automatically ceases to be a representative. A member of the Chamber of Representatives may not also be a member of the Senate at the same time, another important incompatibility is based on the separation of powers. It is also not possible to be a member of the Federal Parliament, the Chamber of Representatives elects a presiding officer, known as the president, at the beginning of each parliamentary term, which starts on the second Tuesday of October each year. The President is customarily a member of one of the forming the government coalition. The first vice-president is usually a member of the language group than that of the President. The current President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives is Siegfried Bracke of the New Flemish Alliance, to this end, he or she is given considerable powers. He or she represents the Chamber at both the national and the international level
6.
Bicameralism
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A bicameral legislature is one in which the legislators are divided into two separate assemblies, chambers or houses. As of 2015, somewhat less than half of the national legislatures are bicameral. Often, the members of the two chambers are elected or selected using different methods, which vary from country to country and this can often lead to the two chambers having very different compositions of members. However, in many Westminster system parliaments, the house to which the executive is responsible can overrule the other house, some legislatures lie in between these two positions, with one house only able to overrule the other under certain circumstances. For example, one house would represent the aristocracy, and the other would represent the commoners as was the case in the Kingdom of England. Others, such as France under the Ancien Régime had a legislature known as the Estates General, which consisted of separate chambers for the clergymen, the nobility. The Founding Fathers of the United States also favoured a bicameral legislature, the idea was to have the Senate be wealthier and wiser. Benjamin Rush saw this though, and noted that, this type of dominion is almost always connected with opulence, the Senate was created to be a stabilising force, elected not by mass electors, but selected by the State legislators. Senators would be more knowledgeable and more sort of republican nobility—and a counter to what Madison saw as the fickleness. He noted further that the use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with system and with more wisdom. Madisons argument led the Framers to grant the Senate prerogatives in foreign policy, an area where steadiness, discretion, the Senate was chosen by state legislators, and senators had to possess a significant amount of property in order to be deemed worthy and sensible enough for the position. In fact, it was not until the year 1913 that the 17th Amendment was passed, as part of the Great Compromise, they invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the Senate would have states represented equally, and the House would have them represented by population. Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British three-tier model, nevertheless, the older justification for second chambers—providing opportunities for second thoughts about legislation—has survived. An example of controversy regarding a second chamber has been the debate over the powers of the Canadian Senate or the election of the Senate of France. The relationship between the two chambers varies, in cases, they have equal power, while in others. The first tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments, the latter tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems. In the United States both houses of the U. S and this is due to their original location in the two-story building that was to house them. In Canada, the country as a whole is divided into a number of Senate Divisions, each with a different number of Senators, Senators in Canada are not elected by the people but are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister
7.
Unicameralism
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In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism, many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple chambers allowed for guaranteed representation of different social classes, ethnic or regional interests, where these factors are unimportant, in unitary states with limited regional autonomy, unicameralism often prevails. Unicameral legislatures are also common in official Communist states such as the Peoples Republic of China, similarly, many formerly Communist states, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, have retained their unicameral legislatures, though others, such as Romania and Poland, adopted bicameral legislatures. Both the former Russian SFSR and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were bicameral, the two chambers were the Soviet of Nationalities and the Soviet of the Union. The Russian Federation retained bicameralism after the dissolution of the USSR, the principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is much simpler and there is no possibility of deadlock. Proponents of unicameralism have also argued that it costs, even if the number of legislators stay the same, since there are fewer institutions to maintain. There is also the risk that important sectors of society may not be adequately represented, approximately half of the worlds sovereign states are currently unicameral, including both the most populous and the least populous. Many subnational entities have unicameral legislatures, and all of the Brazilian states. In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Congress of Deputies of Second Spanish Republic was unicameral between 1931 and 1936. Dissolved at the end of Spanish Civil War, the actual Spanish Parliament is bicameral, Supreme Assembly of Uzbekistan was unicameral before being replaced in 2005 by the current, bicameral Supreme Assembly. National Assembly of Cameroon was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, chamber of Peoples Representative of Equatorial Guinea was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, bicameral Parliament of Equatorial Guinea. National Assembly of Kenya was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kenya in 2013. National Assembly of Ivory Coast was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Ivory Coast in 2016. Nebraskas state legislature is also unique in the sense that it is the state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan. In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesota Legislature into a unicameral chamber. Although debated, the idea was never adopted, if those constitutional changes had been approved, Puerto Rico could have switched to a unicameral legislature as early as 2015
8.
Siegfried Bracke
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Siegfried Bracke is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010, before his political career he had a long career as a journalist, working for the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep. He is a supporter of Orangism, media related to Siegfried Bracke at Wikimedia Commons
9.
New Flemish Alliance
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The New Flemish Alliance is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium, founded in 2001. The N-VA is a regionalist and separatist movement that self-identifies with the promotion of civic nationalism and it is part of the Flemish Movement, and strives for the peaceful and gradual secession of Flanders from Belgium. In recent years it has become the largest party of Flanders as well as of Belgium as a whole, the main objective of the party is to work on Flemish independence by gradually obtaining more powers for both Belgian communities separately. Furthermore, it emphasizes its non-revolutionary and pro-European character in order to legitimize increased Flemish autonomy, the N-VA advocates free-market economics, and their manifesto proposes immediate tax reductions to stimulate the economy. They also advocate deepening ties with the European Union, the N-VA stems from the Peoples Union, a Belgian political party and broad electoral alliance of Flemish nationalists. Towards the end of the 20th century, with a steadily declining electorate and these experiments were opposed by the more traditional centre-right party base. Factions subsequently clashed multiple times, over the course of the party. A party referendum was held on the future of the party, the right wing gained a substantial plurality of 47% and inherited the party infrastructure. Since no faction got a majority, however, the name Volksunie could no longer be used. In the autumn of 2001, the New Flemish Alliance was founded, seven members of parliament from the Peoples Union joined the new party. The new party created a party manifesto and a statement of principles. The first party congress was held in May 2002, voting on a party program, the party participated in elections for the first time in the 2003 federal elections, but struggled with the election threshold of 5%. This threshold was reached in West Flanders, the constituency of Geert Bourgeois. With only one representative and no senator, the party lost government funding. They joined forces in the elections in 2004 and won. Both parties joined the new Flemish government, led by CD&V leader Yves Leterme, Geert Bourgeois became a minister, and Bart De Wever became the new party leader in October 2004. The cartel was briefly broken when the former right-wing liberal Jean-Marie Dedecker left the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats and entered the N-VA on behalf of the party executive. However, the party congress did not put Dedecker on the election list, instead preferring to continue the cartel with CD&V, Dedecker saw this as a vote of no confidence, and left the party after only 10 days, to form his own party, List Dedecker
10.
Michel Government
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The Michel Government is the incumbent Federal Government of Belgium formed following the 2014 Belgian government formation and sworn in on 11 October 2014. The administration is a coalition of the New Flemish Alliance, the Christian Democratic and Flemish, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. The prime minister is Charles Michel, the government has an agenda of socio-economic reforms, especially through austerity measures, with its priorities being improving Belgiums economic competitiveness and reducing unemployment. The government was sworn in on 11 October 2014, taking the oath of office before King Filip of Belgium, the four parties had a majority in the Chamber of Representatives with 85 members out of 150. On 16 October 2014, the motion of confidence from the Chamber of Representatives was approved by a vote of 84 in favour,58 against, the governments majority was reduced to 83 when two N-VA members left the party in September 2016. The government consists of a coalition of the New Flemish Alliance, Christian Democratic and Flemish, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. It is nicknamed Swedish coalition inasmuch as the party colours yellow and blue, initially the government was also called a kamikaze coalition, inasmuch as the MR is the only French-speaking party in the coalition. For the first time in 25 years, the French-speaking Socialist Party did not become a part of the federal government, despite three parties having been part of the preceding Di Rupo Government as well, the programme of this coalition differs substantially from the previous one. The emphasis is on socio-economic reforms, especially austerity measures. Important goals for the parties include helping businesses become more competitive, the announced measures were met by protests primarily from the labour unions, which argued that the measures favour employers and disproportionately burden employees and families. Instead, the unions organised several regional and national strikes in November and December 2014, the government presided over the arrest of suspects accused of playing a role in the Paris attacks of November 2015, as well as a terrorist attack in Brussels in March 2016. An often recurring subject is whether or not a capital gains tax should be introduced, the Constitution requires an equal number of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers. Since MR is the only French-speaking party, it has more ministers than it would otherwise get with its electoral weight, on May 21,2015 the portfolios Urban Policy and fighting Fiscal Fraud were re-allocated between three N-VA members. Urban Policy moved from Jan Jambon to Elke Sleurs, while Sleurs handed over Fiscal Fraud to Johan Van Overtveldt, on September 21,2015 it was announced that minister of Budget Hervé Jamar would resign to become governor of Liège. He was succeeded by Sophie Wilmès, Michel rejected both resignations and the governments composition remained unchanged. Two days later she was replaced by François Bellot, while Tommelein was replacing Turtelboom, he was himself replaced by Philippe De Backer who gave up his position as Member of the European Parliament. Three days later, the N-VA decided to replace Sleurs with Zuhal Demir, Demir was sworn in by the King on 24 February 2017
11.
Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams
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Christian Democratic and Flemish is a Christian democratic Flemish political party in Belgium. The party has ties to both trade unionism and trade associations and the Farmers League. Until 2001, the party was named the Christian Peoples Party and it was traditionally the largest political party of Flanders, until it was overtaken by the New Flemish Alliance in the 2010s. CD&V participated in most governments and has generally the largest number of mayors, most Prime Ministers of Belgium and Ministers-President of Flanders have been CD&V politicians. Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council from 2009 to 2014, is one of the politicians of CD&V. CD&V is a member of the European Peoples Party and Centrist Democrat International, the history of the CD&V dates back to the 19th century. It originated in the 19th century catholic party, or Parti conservateur, at the end of the century, the new fraction of the so-called Christian democrats shifted the focus of the party slightly to the left. In the interwar years the party was renamed Catholic Bloc, then, the Christian Social Party existed from 1945 until 1968. In 1968, the PSC-CVP was split into to the French-speaking Christian Social Party, in 2001 the CVP changed its name to the CD&V. The party was almost continually in power from its establishment until 1999, in 1999, the Flemish Liberals and Democrats became the largest party in Belgium, and formed a majority purple government of liberals, social democrats and greens. The same happened in the Flemish Government, but with the addition of Flemish nationalists, in 2003 CD&V again lost the federal elections which continuated the federal center-left coalition, but this time without the Greens. In 2004, Flemish elections were held and the CD&V once more became the largest political party by representation in the Flemish Parliament, after successful local elections in 2006, the party became the largest party in the Belgian Chambre of Representatives after the federal elections of 2007. The CD&V led the subsequent coalition talks, which repeatedly stalled, on the 20 March 2008, a new federal government was finally assembled, led by Yves Leterme. Kris Peeters subsequently became the next minister-president of Flanders, from 30 December 2008 till 25 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy led his first cabinet before becoming the first permanent president of the European Council. Afterwards, Yves Leterme led his second government, in June 2009, Flemish elections were held and the CD&V remained the largest party of Flanders. Kris Peeters stayed as Flemish minister-president, the party also remained the largest Flemish party in the European Parliament after the 2009 European elections. In 2010, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats decided to out of the federal coalition. The federal elections of 2010 resulted in a loss of historic proportions for CD&V
12.
Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten
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Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, commonly known as Open Vld or simply as the VLD, is a liberal and conservative-liberal Flemish political party in Belgium. The party was created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress, the party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 until March 2008. Open VLD most recently formed the Federal Government with N-VA, CD&V, in the Flemish Parliament, the VLD formed a coalition government with sp. a-Spirit and Christian Democratic and Flemish from after the 2004 regional election until the 2009 regional election. Ideologically, Open VLD started as a liberal, somewhat Thatcherite party under its founder. The VLD rapidly became more centrist and gave up much of its free market approach, Party chairman Bart Somers called in November 2006 for a revolution within the party, saying that a liberal party, like the VLD, can be only progressive and social. Several of its thinkers such as Boudewijn Bouckaert, president of Nova Civitas, in 2004 the VLD teamed up with the minority social-liberal party Vivant for both the Flemish and European elections. VLD-Vivant lost the elections to arch rivals CD&V and the Flemish Bloc, the VLD fell from second to third place among the Flemish political parties, slipping narrowly behind the sp. a-Spirit cartel. Internal feuds, the support for electoral rights for immigrants and an economic policy were seen as the main reasons for its election defeat. From 2007 the party kept having electoral difficulties, first due to competition from split-off List Dedecker and after 2010 from the liberal-conservative Flemish-nationalist party N-VA, under the presidency of current chairwoman Gwendolyn Rutten the Open-Vld took on a more rightwing socio-economic course again. As such the party is the oldest political party of Belgium. In 1846, Walthère Frère-Orban succeeded in creating a program which could unite several liberal groups into one party. Before 1960, the Liberal Party of Belgium was barely organised, the school pact of 1958, as a result of which the most important argument for the traditional anti-clericalism was removed, gave the necessary impetus for a thorough renewal. During the liberal party congress of 1961, the Liberal Party was reformed into the bilingual Party for Freedom and Progress and it is a central principle of Classical Liberalism that employers and employees do NOT have opposed long term interests. In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the tensions between the different communities in Belgium rose and there were disagreements within the movement as well. In 1972, the unitary PVV-PLP was split into separate a Flemish, willy De Clercq became the first chairman of the independent Party of Freedom and Progress. De Clercq, together with Frans Grootjans and Herman Vanderpoorten, set out the lines for the new party and this reform was coupled an Ethical Congress, on which the PVV adopted very progressive and tolerant stances regarding abortion, euthanasia, adultery, homosexuality and gender equality. In 1982, the 29-year-old reformer Guy Verhofstadt became the chairman of the party, Annemie Neyts succeeded him as chairman, becoming the first female party chairman. In 1989, Verhofstadt once more became the chairman of the PVV, in 1992, the PVV was reformed into the Flemish Liberals and Democrats under the impulse of Verhofstadt
13.
Parti Socialiste (Belgium)
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The Socialist Party is a social-democratic French-speaking political party in Belgium. As of the 2014 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, the party is led by Elio Di Rupo, who was Prime Minister of Belgium from 6 December 2011 until 11 Oktober 2014. The party supplies the Minister-president of the Walloon Region, the French Community, in the German-speaking community, the party is known as the Sozialistische Partei. The party, or its members, have time to time been brought into connection with criminal activities and political scandals, mostly concerning bribery. The Carolorégienne affair caused Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down as Minister-President of the Walloon region, results for the Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium. The ideology and image of the PS is a mix of social-democracy, combined with a modern electoral marketing
14.
Groen (political party)
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Groen, founded as Agalev, is a political party in Belgium based on green politics. Groen is often the smallest Flemish party with a representation in the federal, regional or European parliament and its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo, both parties maintain close relations with each other. Many of the founders of political party Agalev came from or were inspired by the social movement Agalev and this movement was founded by the Jesuit Luc Versteylen, who had founded the environmental movement Agalev in the 1970s. Core values of social movement were quiet, solidarity and soberness. This movement combined progressive Catholicism with environmentalism and it sought to spread environmental consciousness first on a small scale, but since 1973 it took action to protect the environment and promote environmental consciousness. In the 1974 and 1977 elections Agalev supported several candidates from traditional parties, in 1977 the movement entered the elections in several municipalities not to gain seats, but to promote its ideals. In reaction to these promises, a debate erupted within Agalev on whether to set up a political party or to remain independent of politics. In the same year the party contested several elections to no avail. A national level Agalev Working Group was founded to coordinate the new party and it also set up a separate association that could enter in elections. It participated in the 1979 European elections, although the party won 2. 3% of the votes, it won no seats. In the 1981 election the party won 4% of vote and two seats in the Chamber of Representatives and one in the Senate, Ecolo, the Walloon green party also won two seats in the Chamber and three seats in the Senate. The political party Agalev was officially founded in 1982 and it remained separate of the social movement. Prominent members of the movement Agalev, such as founder Versteylen chose not to join the political party Agalev, in the municipal elections of 1982 the party performed particularly well winning more than 10% in several municipalities. In its first periods in parliament the party functioned as a protest party forcing the other parties to take action against environmental pollution. The party campaigned on environmental issues, such as local anti-nuclear energy protests. The party won two seats in the 1985 elections, two additional seats in 1987 and one in 1991, in that year it won seven seats in parliament. Agalev had become a political partner for other parties. In 1992 Agalev was asked to support a change called the Sint-Michiels accords
15.
Ecolo
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Ecolo is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The party is active in Wallonia, the Brussels-Capital Region and the German-speaking Community, ecolo currently participates in the Brussels regional government. The party was part of the federal coalition, but it resigned before the 2003 general election. They however made quite a comeback in the 2007 general election, in the 10 June 2007 general elections, the party won 8 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 2 out of 40 seats in the Senate which are directly elected. In the 2010 elections the party won 8 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 2 in the Senate
16.
Socialistische Partij Anders
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Socialist Party Differently is a social-democratic Flemish political party in Belgium. From December 2011 to September 2014, sp. a was part of the Di Rupo Government, sp. a has been several times part of the Flemish Government. The party was the big winner in the 2003 election, running on the SP. A-Spirit joint list with the social-liberal party Spirit and their share of the vote went up from 9% to almost 15%, a second place in the number of votes. The main victim of this resurgence was the Green, in 2004, the sp. a along with its partner Spirit lost the elections for the Flemish Parliament. Although they won more seats in comparison to the Flemish elections of 1999, the reputation of then party leader Steve Stevaert took a beating too. The party was led by Caroline Gennez, after former president Steve Stevaert left to become governor of Limburg. Johan Vande Lanotte, who served as Minister of the Budget in the federal Government, was elected President and he resigned 11 June 2007, after sp. a-Spirit lost the elections for the federal parliament of 10 June 2007. In these federal elections, the cartel won 14 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in the Senate, afterwards, Caroline Gennez was elected President by the party members. As of May 2009, sp. a was in opposition in federal politics, in January 2009 the party had apparently changed its name to Socialisten en Progressieven Anders. This name change was however retracted, and the party baseline instead was changed from Sociaal Progressief Alternatief to Socialisten en Progressieven Anders, in the 2010 federal election sp. a won 13 seats with 9% of the overall vote. The party was a member of the Di Rupo Government formed on 6 December 2011, from 2009-2014, sp. a participated in the Flemish Government, in an uneasy coalition with the CD & V and the N-VA. ° In Limburg sp. a formed a cartel with Groen, * In cartel with Spirit Johan Vande Lanotte, Vlugschrift – over welvaart en geluk,96 p. ISBN 978-90-486-0629-0. Patrick Vander Weyden & Koen Abts, De basis spreekt — onderzoek naar de leden, mandatarissen en kiezers van sp. a, Acco,239 p. ISBN 978-90-334-7571-9
17.
Vlaams Belang
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Vlaams Belang is a right-wing populist and Flemish nationalist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels of Belgium. Vlaams Belang originated from Vlaams Blok, which adopted its new name and it has since sought to change its image from a radical to a more conservative party, and has distanced itself from some of its former programs. The direct predecessor of the Vlaams Belang was the Vlaams Blok, the immigration positions of the Vlaams Blok was subject to much controversy, and the party was forced to disband in 2004 after a political trial ruled that it sanctioned discrimination. In the same interview he questioned the scale of the Nazis use of gas chambers, in response to the media assault following the interview, Raes was forced to resign his position but vowed to remain active within the party. By April 2004, the Appellate Court of Ghent came to a verdict, forbidding their. In November that year, the Court of Cassation rejected their last appeal to annul the verdict, after the Supreme Court ruling, the leadership of the VB seized the occasion to dissolve itself, and start afresh under a new name. On 14 November, the Vlaams Blok thus disbanded itself, the Vlaams Belang instituted a number of changes in its political program, carefully moderating some of the more radical positions of the former Vlaams Blok. Nevertheless, the party leader Frank Vanhecke made it clear that the party would remain the same, We change our name. We change our name, but not our programme, former Vlaams Blok chairman Frank Vanhecke was chosen as chairman of the Vlaams Belang on 12 December 2004. This situation was altered slightly with the emergence of the smaller right-wing party List Dedecker. The VB contested the 2006 municipal elections on the theme of Secure, Flemish, the VB enjoyed a massive increase of votes, and its council members almost doubled, from 439 to about 800. The election result was described by the party as a landslide victory, in Antwerp, the VBs vote count ran behind that of the Socialist Party, which increased their share of the vote dramatically. Nevertheless, the VB, which was in a coalition with the minor VLOTT party, in the 2007 general election, the party won 17 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and five seats in the Senate, remaining more or less at status quo. Earlier the same year, the party joined the short-lived European Parliament group Identity, Tradition, in 2008, Bruno Valkeniers was chosen as new party chairman for the VB, having contested the position unopposed. In 2009, the party contested elections for the Flemish Parliament, the party was reduced from 32 to 21 seats in the Flemish parliament, and from three to two seats in the European parliament. In the 2010 general election, the party was reduced, to 12 seats in the Chamber. This was largely due to the success of the more moderate new party New Flemish Alliance. After the party suffered losses during the local elections of 2012 Bruno Valkeniers stepped down as party chairman and was succeeded by Gerolf Annemans
18.
Workers' Party of Belgium
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The Workers Party of Belgium is a Marxist political party in Belgium. It is one of the few parties that operates as a single Belgian party, most other parties are either Flemish or Francophone. The PVDA-PTB hosts the International Communist Seminar, which in recent years has become one of the main worldwide gatherings of communist parties, the Workers Party of Belgium originated in the student movement at the end of the 1960s. Radicalized students, mainly from the Catholic University of Leuven, turned towards the working-class movement and they considered the politics of the existing Communist Party of Belgium revisionist, i. e. too much turned toward social-democratic politics. Their support and participation in an important strike in the coalmines turned the movement into a political party and they founded a periodical, AMADA, which became the first name of their party. In 1979 the first congress was held, which adopted a Maoist programme, ludo Martens became the first president, and remained an important ideologist of the party until his death in 2011. Recent developments Following its electoral defeat in 2003, the PVDA-PTB fundamentally changed its working methods, on one hand, the PVDA-PTB said it would refocus on working with factory workers as well as on field work in the communities where it operates. On the other hand, the PVDA-PTB said it would break with what it calls its sectarian past to get closer to the concrete demands of citizens. In preparation for the Belgian elections of June 2007, the Solidarity newspaper, the structures have also been open to a broader layer of activists. On March 2,2008, the work of the Eighth Congress of the PVDA-PTB was completed with a meeting at the Free University of Brussels. This Congress was conducted with the theme of party renewal, a new Central Committee was elected, which in turn elected a new Bureau of the Party. It consists of, Peter Mertens, °1969, responsible for expanding the party Raoul Hedebouw, °1977. National voice of the PVDA-PTB Joris Van Gorp, °1952, head of union relations Jo Cottenier, °1947. Responsible for the socio-economic issues Baudouin Deckers, °1946 and this shift seems to have produced some positive results, such as a slight increase in membership and a rebound of the electoral score of the PVDA-PTB in recent elections. The last elections in October 2012 showed more progress, with 8% in Antwerp, there has also been an increase in media coverage of the party. In September 2014 the party had more than 8,000 members and its monthly publication Solidarity / Solidarity has between 3,000 and 5,000 subscribers. COMAC, its movement, is active in all the universities in Belgium. The PVDA-PTB is also known for its 11 Medicine for the medical centres, which provide free access to primary health care
19.
Open list
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Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a partys candidates are elected. Additionally, an open list system can allow a voter the alternative of voting for the party as a whole without expressing a preference between individuals. There are differences possible between varying open list systems, each giving the voter varying amounts of influence, voters choice is usually called preference vote. A relatively closed open list system is one where a candidate must get a full quota of votes on his or her own to be assured of winning a seat. The total number of seats won by the party minus the number of its candidates that achieved this quota gives the number of unfilled seats and these are then successively allocated to the partys not-yet-elected candidates who were ranked highest on the original list. In a more open list system, the quota for election could be lowered from the above amount and it is then possible that more of a partys candidates achieve this quota than the total seats won by the party. It should therefore be made clear in advance whether list ranking or absolute votes take precedence in that case, in Dutch elections the voter can give his vote to any candidate in a list, the vote for this candidate is called a preference vote. If a candidate has at least 25% of the quota then he/she takes priority over the other candidates who stand higher on the party list. An example, A party list got 5000 votes, if the quota is 1000 votes, then the party wins five seats. Candidates #1, #7 and #4 have each achieved 25% of the quota and they get the first three of the five seats the party has won. The other two seats will be taken by #2 and #3, the two highest remaining positions on the party list and this means that #5 is not elected even though being the fifth on the list and having more preference votes than #2. In practice, at the level only one or two candidates can precede on their lists. This happens more often at the level where the quota is lower. Parties usually allow candidates to ask for votes, but without campaigning negatively against other candidates on the list. In elections in Sweden, the most open list is used, in Slovakia each voter may, in addition to the party, select one to four candidates from the ordered party list. Candidates who are selected by more than 3% of the voters are elected first. For European elections, voters select two candidates and the candidates must have more than 10% of the votes to override the party list. In the European election in 2009 three of Slovakias thirteen MEPs were elected solely by virtue of preference votes and only one was elected solely by virtue of her position on the party list, sometimes, however, people want to express their support for a particular person
20.
Proportional representation
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Proportional representation characterizes electoral systems by which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the support an particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result, not just a plurality, or a bare majority, Proportional representation requires the use of multiple-member voting districts, it is not possible using single-member districts alone. In fact, the most proportional representation is achieved when just one super-district is used, the two most widely used families of PR voting systems are party list PR and single transferable vote. Mixed member proportional representation, also known as the Additional Member System, is a hybrid Mixed Electoral System that uses party list PR as its proportional component, with party list PR, political parties define candidate lists and voters vote for a list. The relative vote for each list determines how many candidates from each list are actually elected, lists can be closed or open, open lists allow voters to indicate individual candidate preferences and vote for independent candidates. Voting districts can be small or as large as a province or an entire nation, the single transferable vote uses small districts, with voters ranking individual candidates in order of preference. During the count, as candidates are elected or eliminated, surplus or discarded votes that would otherwise be wasted are transferred to other candidates according to the preferences, STV enables voters to vote across party lines and to elect independent candidates. Voters have two votes, one for their district and one for the party list, the party list vote determining the balance of the parties in the elected body. Biproportional apportionment, first used in Zurich in 2006, is a method for adjusting an elections result to achieve overall proportionality. Some form of representation is used for national lower house elections in 94 countries, party list PR. As with all systems, there are overlapping and contentious claims in terms of its advantages and disadvantages. But does it follow that the minority should have no representatives at all, is it necessary that the minority should not even be heard. Nothing but habit and old association can reconcile any reasonable being to the needless injustice, in a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. A majority of the electors would always have a majority of the representatives, man for man, they would be as fully represented as the majority. Unless they are, there is not equal government, many academic political theorists agree with Mill, that in a representative democracy the representatives should represent all segments of society. The established parties in UK elections can win formal control of the parliament with as little as 35% of votes, in Canada, majority governments are regularly formed by parties with the support of under 40% of votes cast. Coupled with turnout levels in the electorate of less than 60%, in the 2005 general election, for example, the Labour Party under Tony Blair won a comfortable parliamentary majority with the votes of only 21. 6% of the total electorate
21.
Electoral threshold
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The electoral threshold is the minimum share of the vote which a political party requires to secure any representation in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ways, if there are a number of multi-member constituencies, each constituency will have a quota, i. e. a minimum percentage of the votes in that constituency to be awarded one seat. Lijphart suggested calculating the informal threshold as the mean of these, in Polands Sejm, Germanys Bundestag and New Zealands House of Representatives, the threshold is 5%. However, in Germany and New Zealand, if a party wins a number of directly elected seats—three in Germany. The threshold is 3. 25% in Israels Knesset, and 10% in the Turkish parliament, in Poland, ethnic minority parties do not have to reach the threshold level to get into the parliament, and so there is always a small German minority representation in the Sejm. In Romania, for the minority parties there is a different threshold than for the national parties that run for the Chamber of Deputies. In the Slovenian parliamentary elections of 1992 and 1996 the threshold was set at 3 parliamentary seats and this meant that the parties needed to win about 3. 2% of the votes in order to pass the threshold. In 2000 the threshold was raised to 4% of the votes, in Sweden, there is a nationwide threshold of 4%, but if a party reaches 12% in one election district, it will take part in the seat allocation for that district. However, through the 2014 election, nobody has been elected based on the 12% rule, in Norway the nationwide electoral threshold of 4% applies only to leveling seats. A party with sufficient local support may still win the district seats. Following the 2009 election, the Liberal Party won two seats in this manner, in the United States, as the majority of elections are conducted under the first-past-the-post system, legal election thresholds do not apply in the actual voting. However, several states have requirements for parties to obtain automatic ballot access to the next general election without having to submit voter-signed petitions. The threshold rules also apply for independent candidates to obtain ballot access, countries can have more than one threshold. Most multiple-threshold systems are still in the proposal stage, election thresholds are often implemented with the intention of bringing stability to the political system. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recommends for parliamentary elections a threshold not higher than 3%. However a 2007 European Court of Human Rights decision, Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey, because Turkey has no limits for independent candidates, the 10% rule has to some extent been circumvented by parties running candidates as independents. Examples of elections where established parties fall below the threshold are, all five parties that passed the 10% threshold in 1999 elections, as well as two other major parties, failed to pass the threshold in 2002, rocking the Turkish politics to its foundations. Notably DYP got 9. 55%, MHP got 8. 34%, GP got 7. 25%, DEHAP got 6. 23%, ANAP got 5. 13%, SP got 2. 48% and DSP got 1. 22%, all falling below the threshold
22.
Belgian federal election, 2014
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Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippes reign, as part of the state reform adopted 19 December 2013, the date of election will from now on coincide with the European elections, which the Council of the EU has scheduled for 22–25 May 2014. The regional elections in Belgium already legally coincide with the European elections, on 25 April 2014, a declaration to amend the Constitution was adopted, formally dissolving parliament and triggering new elections within 40 days. The previous 2010 election resulted in a victory for Flemish nationalist N-VA, the coalition formation stalemate went on for a record-breaking 541 days. Eventually, the parties agreed upon a sixth Belgian state reform. The Senate will no longer be directly elected, the term length will be increased from 4 years to 5 years, and the election will always coincide with the European Parliament election. The campaign topics largely focused on reforms, job creation and unemployment, tax reform. This campaign also featured a level of quantified programmes by political parties. For example, the N-VA released its V plan and CD&V its 3D plan, one week before the election day, former CD&V Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene suddenly died while in France. Several debates were cancelled, and CD&V as well as all other Flemish parties suspended their campaign for a few days, on 24 May, the day before the elections, a shooting occurred at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels, with three people reported dead. Self-described anti-Zionist MP Laurent Louis suggested that the attack could be a false flag operation seeking to discredit him, in the Chamber of Representatives, the Peoples Party and Libertarian, Direct, Democratic each also won one seat. During the legislation, the Francophone Democratic Federalists separated from the MR party and are now represented in the Chamber with 3 representatives, the PP Member of Parliament left the party and became an independent. One Vlaams Belang member of the Chamber and one Vlaams Belang member of the Senate left their party, thus, currently the ten major parties are represented in both the Chamber and the Senate, in addition, LDD and FDF are represented in the Chamber of Representatives. However, most of the parties only operate in the Dutch-speaking or in the French-speaking constituencies. Voters who live in the provinces of Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg or West Flanders can only vote for CD&V, Groen, N-VA, Open VLD, sp. Therefore, the CSP politicians are on the cdH list, the Ecolo ones on the Ecolo list, PFF on the MR list, the other German-speaking parties do not present a list due to their marginal chance of getting a seat in Parliament. In the constituency of Brussels-Capital, Ecolo and Groen formed one list under the name Ecolo, CD&V, N-VA, Open Vld, sp. a and Vlaams Belang will each present a single list
23.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
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Parliament
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In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative, elected body of government. Generally a modern parliament has three functions, representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government, historically, parliaments included various kinds of deliberative, consultative, and judicial assemblies. The term is derived from Anglo-Norman parlement, from the verb parler talk, the meaning evolved over time, originally any discussion, conversation, or negotiation, through various kinds of deliberative or judicial groups, often summoned by the monarch. By 1400, it had come to mean in Britain specifically the British supreme legislature, various parliaments are claimed to be the oldest in the world, under varying definitions. The Sicilian Parliament, whose first assembly was convened in 1097, the Icelandic Althing, year 930, but only including the main chiefs. Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there were councils or a headman whose decisions were assessed by village elders, some scholars suggest that in ancient Mesopotamia there was a primitive democratic government where the kings were assessed by council. The same has been said about ancient India, where some form of deliberative assemblies existed, however, these claims are not accepted by most scholars, who see these forms of government as oligarchies. Ancient Athens was the cradle of democracy, the Athenian assembly was the most important institution, and every citizen could take part in the discussions. However, Athenian democracy was not representative, but rather direct, the Roman Senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy. Some Muslim scholars argue that the Islamic shura is analogous to the parliament, however, others highlight what they consider fundamental differences between the shura system and the parliamentary system. England has long had a tradition of a body of men who would assist, under the Anglo-Saxon kings, there was an advisory council, the Witenagemot. The name derives from the Old English ƿitena ȝemōt, or witena gemōt, the first recorded act of a witenagemot was the law code issued by King Æthelberht of Kent ca. 600, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose, however, the Witan, along with the folkmoots, is an important ancestor of the modern English parliament. As part of the Norman Conquest of England, the new king, William I, did away with the Witenagemot, membership of the Curia was largely restricted to the tenants in chief, the few nobles who rented great estates directly from the king, along with ecclesiastics. William brought to England the feudal system of his native Normandy and this is the original body from which the Parliament, the higher courts of law, and the Privy Council and Cabinet descend. Of these, the legislature is formally the High Court of Parliament, only the executive government is no longer conducted in a royal court. Most historians date the emergence of a parliament with some degree of power to which the throne had to defer no later than the rule of Edward I, like previous kings, Edward called leading nobles and church leaders to discuss government matters, especially finance. A meeting in 1295 became known as the Model Parliament because it set the pattern for later Parliaments, in 1307, Edward I agreed not to collect certain taxes without the consent of the realm
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Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
26.
Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
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Belgium is a federal state comprising three communities, three regions, and four language areas. For each of these types, the subdivisions together make up the entire country, in other words. The language areas were established by the Second Gilson Act, which entered force on August 2,1963. The division into language areas was included in the Belgian Constitution in 1970 and this is a schematic overview of the basic federal structure of Belgium as defined by Title I of the Belgian Constitution. Each of the entities either have their own Parliament and Government or their own Council, the language areas have no offices or powers and exist de facto as geographical circumscriptions, serving only to delineate the empowered subdivisions. The institutional communities are thus equally geographically determined, Belgian Communities do not officially refer directly to groups of people but rather to specific political, linguistic and cultural competencies of the country. There is no subnationality in Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region each comprise five provinces. The Brussels-Capital Region is not a province, nor does it contain any, the three regions are further subdivided into 589 municipalities, which in general consist of several sub-municipalities. These sub-municipalities were independent municipalities in the past, but no longer serve an official purpose, the Federal State retains a considerable common heritage. This includes justice, defence, federal police, social security, public debt and other aspects of public finances, nuclear energy, the State is responsible for the obligations of Belgium and its federalized institutions towards the European Union and NATO. It controls substantial parts of public health, home affairs and foreign affairs and they supervise the provinces, municipalities and intercommunal utility companies. In several fields, the different levels each have their own say on specificities, each level can be involved in scientific research and international relations associated with its powers. Communities were created in 1970 as cultural communities with limited power, in 1980, more power was transferred from the federal state to these entities and they became simply communities. Both the Flemish and French Community have jurisdiction over the area of the Brussels-Capital Region, consequently, they do not have a defined number of inhabitants. The German-speaking Community is the community with an area over which they have sole jurisdiction as a community. It is located within the Walloon Region, which has transferred some regional powers to the German-speaking Community with regards to its area. The Flemish Region or Flanders occupies the part of Belgium. It has an area of 13,522 km2, or 44. 29% of Belgium
27.
Citizenship
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Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member of a sovereign state. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless. Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably in international law – although the term is understood as denoting a persons membership of a nation. In some countries, e. g. the United States, each country has its own policies, regulations and criteria as to who is entitled to its citizenship. A person can be recognised or granted citizenship on a number of bases, usually citizenship based on the place of birth is automatic, in other cases an application may be required. If one or both of a persons parents are citizens of a state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. Formerly this might only have applied through the line. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and is related to the concept of a nation state common in China, where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. States normally limit the right to citizenship by descent to a number of generations born outside the state. This form of citizenship is not common in civil law countries, Some people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch, in many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold, citizenship either by place or parentage. Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen, States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to renounce any other citizenship. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as color, ethnicity, sex. Most of these no longer apply in most places. The United States grants citizenship to those born as a result of reproductive technologies, Some exclusions still persist for internationally adopted children born before Feb 27,1983 even though their parents meet citizenship criteria. Polis meant both the assembly of the city-state as well as the entire society. Citizenship has generally been identified as a western phenomenon, there is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has come under scrutiny
28.
Flanders
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Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
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Wallonia
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Wallonia is a region of Belgium. Wallonia is primarily French-speaking, and accounts for 55% of the territory of Belgium, unlike Flanders, the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium which is the political entity that is responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education. The German-speaking minority in the east forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, during the industrial revolution, Wallonia was second only to the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the wealth, and, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Since World War II the importance of industry has greatly diminished. Wallonia now suffers high unemployment and has a significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of conflict in Belgium and is a major factor in Flemish separatism. The capital of Wallonia is Namur but the city with the greatest population is Charleroi, most of Wallonias major cities and two-thirds of its population lie along the Sambre and Meuse valley, the former industrial backbone of Belgium. To the north lies the Central Belgian Plateau, which, like Flanders, is relatively flat, in the south-east lie the Ardennes, hilly and sparsely populated. Wallonia borders Flanders and the Netherlands in the north, France to the south and west, Wallonia has been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1980. The term Wallonia can mean different things in different contexts. One of the three regions of Belgium is still constitutionally defined as the Walloon Region, but the regions government has renamed it Wallonia. In practice, the difference between the two terms is small and what is meant is usually clear, based on context, the root of the word Wallonia, like the words Wales, Cornwall and Wallachia, is the Germanic word Walha, meaning the strangers. Wallonia is named after the Walloons, the population of the Burgundian Netherlands speaking Romance languages, in Middle Dutch, the term Walloons also included the French-speaking population of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège or the whole population of the Romanic sprachraum within the medieval Low Countries. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 57 BC, the Low Countries became part of the larger Gallia Belgica province which originally stretched from southwestern Germany to Normandy and the southern part of the Netherlands. The population of territory was Celtic with a Germanic influence which was stronger in the north than in the south of the province. The ancestors of the Walloons became Gallo-Romans and were called the Walha by their Germanic neighbours, the Walha abandoned their Celtic dialects and started to speak Vulgar Latin. The Merovingian Franks gradually gained control of the region during the 5th century, the language border began to crystallize between 700 under the reign of the Merovingians and Carolingians and around 1000 after the Ottonian Renaissance
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Bilingual
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Multilingualism is the use of two or more languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the worlds population, more than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one other language in addition to their mother tongue. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of globalization, people who speak several languages are also called polyglots. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the first language is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed. Children acquiring two languages in this way are called simultaneous bilinguals, even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals, one language usually dominates the other. People who know more than one language have been reported to be adept at language learning compared to monolinguals. Multilingualism in computing can be considered part of a continuum between internationalization and localization, the definition of multilingualism is a subject of debate in the very same way as the definition of language fluency. On one end of a sort of continuum, one may define multilingualism as complete competence. The speaker would presumably have complete knowledge and control over the language so as to sound native, on the opposite end of the spectrum would be people who know enough phrases to get around as a tourist using the alternate language. Since 1992, Vivian Cook has argued that most multilingual speakers fall somewhere between minimal and maximal definitions, in addition, there is no consistent definition of what constitutes a distinct language. For instance, scholars disagree whether Scots is a language in its own right or a dialect of English. Many small independent nations schoolchildren are today compelled to learn multiple languages because of international interactions, for example, in, all children are required to learn at least two foreign languages, the other national language and one alien language. Many Finnish schoolchildren also select further languages, such as German or Russian, in some large nations with multiple languages, such as India, school children may routinely learn multiple languages based on where they reside in the country. In major metropolitan areas of Central, South and East India, thus a child of Telugu parents living in Bangalore will end up speaking his or her mother tongue at home and the state language, Hindi and English in school and his or her surroundings. Many myths and much prejudice has grown around the notions of bi- and these are all harmful convictions which have long been debunked, yet still persist among many parents. A multilingual person is someone who can communicate in more than one language, more specifically, the terms bilingual and trilingual are used to describe comparable situations in which two or three languages are involved. A multilingual person is referred to as a polyglot. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the first language is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed
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Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
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This area forms the judicial arrondissement of Brussels, which is the location of a Court of First Instance, Commercial Court and a Labour Court. It was reformed in July 2012 as part of the sixth Belgian state reform, all Belgian electoral arrondissements now coincide with the Belgian provinces. The Brussels-Capital Region does not belong to any province and has formed its own electoral district since July 2012, before the splitting, the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde was an exception since Halle-Vilvoorde is part of the province of Flemish Brabant, the other part being the Arrondissement of Leuven. Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde has been the subject of a highly sensitive dispute within Belgium and was one of the topics of the 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis. A majority of the Flemings wanted to split it into two arrondissements, while the Francophones wanted to keep it as it was or, at a minimum, split it with concessions. The lists for the federal and European elections were composed of both Dutch and French-language parties, while the area is partly monolingual Halle-Vilvoorde and bilingual Brussels, in 2003, the Court of Arbitration ruled the BHV district to be unconstitutional, due to the unequal voting rights. It was abolished as part of the 2012 sixth Belgian state reform, at that time, French was the only language in politics, administration, justice, the army and all education except primary, to the disadvantage of Dutch speakers. Some Dutch speakers therefore decided to raise their children in French, Belgium, as a unitary state, consisted of nine provinces with several arrondissements. Each arrondissement also served as a district, however some of them were later grouped together. One of the nine provinces was Brabant, which consisted of the arrondissements of Brussels, Leuven, furthermore, nothing in the judicial structure was reformed, leaving the judicial arrondissement of Brussels unchanged. In 1921 Belgium was divided into two monolingual entities, both languages could be used in Brussels. A special status was established wherever a large minority used the language along the linguistic border. A municipality could ask the government to change its status by a royal decree only after a census would have shown a passage over the 30% or 50% threshold. The 1932 law was implemented only once, as the invasion of Belgium by Germany in 1940 prevented the organization of the decennial census, the next linguistic census took place in 1947. The results suggested that the progression of French language had kept intensifying and these results were disputed by Flemish politicians who questioned the survey methodology. The percentage of Dutch-speakers had fallen under the 30% threshold in nie municipalities while 12, only one municipality had fallen under the threshold of 30% French-speakers. In order to mitigate their impact, the results of the 1947 census were not made public until 1954, there are no official figures to support claims, on the French-speaking side, that many more families shifted from Dutch to French after 1947. The linguistic census and dynamic system would be abolished and replaced with a static system and these laws voted in 1962 and 1963, Bilingual Brussels was limited to the 19 municipalities it already encompassed since 1954
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Flemish Brabant
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Flemish Brabant is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut, Flemish Brabant also surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region. It has an area of 2,106 km² which is divided into two administrative districts containing 65 municipalities, the split was made to accommodate the eventual division of Belgium in three regions. It is a province with a cultural history and a great diversity of typical products. The province is made up of two arrondissements, the Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement has Brussels in its middle and is therefore mainly a residential area, even though it also has large industrial zones and contains Belgiums main airport. The other arrondissement is the Leuven Arrondissement, centered on Leuven, other such special municipalities can be found along the border between Flanders and Wallonia, and between Wallonia and the German-speaking area of Belgium. Halle-Vilvoorde mostly surrounds Brussels, which is officially bilingual but whose inhabitants mostly speak French, the history of Brabant can be found at the Duchy of Brabant article, see also Duke of Brabant. The Governor is the representative or commissioner of the Federal and the Flemish Government in Flemish Brabant and he is appointed by the Flemish Government, on the unanimous advice of the Federal Council of Ministers. The current Governor is Lodewijk De Witte, he has been the Governor of Flemish Brabant since it was created in 1995 as a result of the splitting up of the Province of Brabant. He also presides over the Deputation, however, he doesnt have the right to vote in the Deputation except in cases where the Deputation exercises a judicial function. Flemish Brabant is that only province that has a Deputy Governor as well and he is responsible for ensuring that the language legislation is observed in the peripheral municipalities of Flemish Brabant. The Provincial Council of Flemish Brabant consists of 72 members elected for a term of office of 6 years, the last election was held on Sunday 14 October 2012. She is assisted by a Bureau which consists of two Vice-Presidents, four Secretaries, three Quaestors and the leaders of the fractions in the Provincial Council. The governing majority in the Provincial Council for 2013–2018 is formed by CD&V, Open VLD, sp. a and these parties together have a majority of 43 out of 72 seats. The Deputation is the organ responsible for the daily administration of the province. It consists of the Governor and six Deputies elected by the Provincial Council from among its midst. For the 2013–2018 legislative term, the Deputies are divided among the majority parties as follows, Flemish Brabant has 65 municipalities,35 in the Arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde and 30 in Leuven. Official web site of the Flemish Brabant province
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Luxembourg (Belgium)
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Luxembourg is the southernmost province of Wallonia and of Belgium. It borders on the country of Luxembourg, France, and the Belgian provinces of Namur and its capital is Arlon, in the south-east of the province. It has an area of 4,443 km², making it the largest Belgian province, at around a quarter of a million residents, it is also the least populated province, making it a relatively sparsely populated province in an otherwise very densely populated country. It is significantly larger and much less populous than the neighbouring Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, about eighty percent of the province is part of the densely wooded Ardennes region. The southernmost region of the province is called Gaume or Belgian Lorraine, Luxembourg province is divided into five administrative districts containing a total of 44 municipalities
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Antwerp (province)
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Antwerp is the northernmost province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on North Brabant province of the Netherlands and the Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and its capital is Antwerp which comprises the Port of Antwerp. It has an area of 2867 km² and with 1.8 million inhabitants it is the countrys most populous province, the province consists of 3 arrondissements, Antwerp, Mechelen and Turnhout. The eastern part of the province comprises the part of the Campine region. During the early Middle Ages the region was part of the Frankish Empire, the territory of the present day province belonged to several pagi of which the region around Antwerp belonged to the Pagus Renesium. The Pagus Toxandria stretched from North Brabant into the Campine region, to the south there was the Pagus Bracbatinse and the Pagus Hasbaniensis. In 843 the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne was divided among his sons, in 974 Otto II established the Margraviate of Antwerp as a defence against the County of Flanders. In 1106, Henry V granted the Margraviate to Godfrey I of Leuven and his descendants would from 1235 onwards become the Dukes of Brabant and the region itself was the northern part of the Duchy of Brabant. In 1430 the Duchy became part of the Duchy of Burgundy until 1477 when it fell to the House of Habsburg. In 1713, at the end of the Spanish Succession War the region part of the Austrian Netherlands until 1794. On 1 October 1795 the former Austrian Netherlands were annexed by France under the French Directory, the modern province was created as the Department of the two Netes during the First French Empire. After the defeat of Napoleon, the became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as the province of Central Brabant, distinguishing it from North Brabant. In 1830, after Belgiums independence the province was renamed Antwerp, common with Flemish Brabant, North Brabant and Brussels, the local dialect is a Brabantian variety. The province of Antwerp has a council, elected every six years. The current governor is Cathy Berx, appointed in 2008 by the Flemish Government, the last elections were held on 14 October 2012. a, that each have 2 deputies. The three parties have a majority of 50 seats out of 72, highest point, Beerzelberg located in the municipality Putte. Most important rivers, Scheldt, Rupel, Grote Nete, Kleine Nete The province has a network of roads, railroads, canals, historically, the traffic infrastructure was an important element of connecting the Port of Antwerp with the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Both the Iron Rhine railroad and the E313 and E34 highway connect Antwerp with the Ruhr Area, the river Schelde, an important waterway, connects the Port of Antwerp with the North Sea
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Leuven
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Leuven or Louvain is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in Belgium. It is located about 25 kilometres east of Brussels, the municipality itself comprises the historic city and the former neighboring municipalities of Heverlee, Kessel-Lo, a part of Korbeek-Lo, Wilsele and Wijgmaal. It is the 10th largest municipality in Belgium and the fourth in Flanders with more than 100,244 inhabitants, Leuven is home to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the largest and oldest university of the Low Countries and the oldest Catholic university still in existence. The related university hospital of UZ Leuven, is one of the largest hospitals in Europe, the city is also known for being the headquarters of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the worlds largest brewer and one of the five largest consumer-goods companies in the world. The earliest mention of Leuven is from 891, when a Viking army was defeated by the Frankish king Arnulf of Carinthia, according to a legend the citys red and white arms depict the blood-stained shores of the river Dyle after this battle. Situated beside this river, and near to the stronghold of the Dukes of Brabant, a token of its former importance as a centre of cloth manufacture is shown in that ordinary linen cloth is known in late-14th-century and 15th-century texts as lewyn. In the 15th century a new era began with the founding of what is now the largest and oldest university in the Low Countries. In the 18th century the brewery Den Horen flourished, Leuven has several times been besieged or occupied by foreign armies, these include the Battle of Leuven, Siege of Leuven and Battle of Leuven. Both world wars in the 20th century inflicted major damage upon the city, upon Germanys entry into World War I, the town was heavily damaged by rampaging soldiers. In all, about 300 civilians lost their lives, the university library was also destroyed on 25 August 1914, using petrol and incendiary pastilles. 230,000 volumes were lost in the destruction, including Gothic and Renaissance manuscripts, a collection of 750 medieval manuscripts, and more than 1,000 incunabula. The destruction of the library shocked the world, with the Daily Chronicle describing it as war not only against civilians and it was rebuilt after the war, and much of the collection was replaced. Great Britain and the United States were major providers of material for the replenishment of the collection. In World War II, after the start of the German offensive, Leuven formed part of the British Expeditionary Forces front line and was defended by units of the 3rd Division and Belgian troops. From 14 to 16 May 1940, the German Army Group B assaulted the city with heavy air, the British withdrew their forces to the River Senne on the night of 16 May and the town was occupied the next day. The new university building was set on fire by shelling on 16 May. Given the presence of the KULeuven, an important European institution for research and education. There are several biotech and ICT companies, Gasthuisberg, the hospital and research centre
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Municipalities with language facilities
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There are 27 municipalities with language facilities in Belgium which must offer services to residents in Dutch, French or German, in addition to their official languages. All other municipalities – with the exception of those in the Brussels region which is bilingual – are unilingual and only offer services in their official languages, either Dutch or French. Belgian law stipulates that,12 municipalities in Flanders must offer services in French, of these 12, Wallonia contains two language areas, In the French-speaking part of Wallonia, four municipalities offer services in Dutch and another two offer services in German. All municipalities in the German-speaking part of Wallonia offer services in French, in Brussels, Dutch and French are co-official. At the federal level, Dutch, French and German are all official languages, there were three language areas as from the 31 July 1921 law, the Dutch-speaking Flemish area, the French-speaking Walloon area, and the bilingual area of Brussels. These language areas of 1921 actually had no institutional translation in the structure of the Belgian state, thence a French-speaking unilingual municipality could, for instance, be part of the province of West Flanders. A municipality could ask the government to change its status by a royal decree only after a census showed a passage over the 30% or 50% threshold. The German- and Luxembourgish-speaking minorities in Eastern Wallonia were not mentioned in the 1921 or 1931 laws, there was, and still is, a Luxembourgish-speaking minority in some municipalities bordering the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In 1962–1963 four language areas were determined, the Dutch-language area, the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital, the French-language area. The language border appears quite stable and peaceful, except for the municipalities of Voeren and, to a lesser extent. During the 1970s, many municipalities were merged into a municipality in order to lessen administrative overhead. However, the situation of the municipalities with language facilities had the effect that no other municipalities liked to merge with those. As a result, many of the smallest municipalities in Belgium today are municipalities with language facilities, S. a. the least populated municipality and the smallest municipality with a city title. This revision of the Constitution was widely seen by French speakers as a recognition that language facilities had a permanent status, currently, both Dutch and French speakers complain about poor or absent respect by certain authorities for their linguistic rights. Belgian and European courts are frequently solicited to arbitrate, related political debates often take place in the various Belgian assemblies i. e. the federal, regional and community Parliaments. Annual subvention, nearly 10 million Euros, the French-speaking Community finances a Dutch-speaking nursery and primary school for Dutch speakers in Mouscron. In 2011, the French-speaking Community finances 152 nursery and primary schools and 101 secondary schools providing such type of education in Wallonia,8 secondary schools with Dutch language immersion in Mouscron, Comines-Warneton and Enghien. Apart from the above, there are also,1 small private Dutch-speaking nursery and primary school in the Walloon municipality of Comines-Warneton, since the above legal criteria to establish such a school had not been met, it is financed by the Dutch-language Community
Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers (help·info), French: Chambre des Représentants, German: Abgeordnetenkammer) and the Senate (Dutch: 
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