I’m going out of the spanish context to talk about Belgium this time! I wrote this article in honour of my roommate who is Belgian and Flemish. Yes! Belgium, it’s really complicated. That’s why I decided to take a look at its situation.
This little country and its symbolic capital, Brussels, are hosting the major political institutions of the Union (: the European council, Council of the European Union, European Commission) as well as international institutions as NATO.
Since a few years, we’ve heard some political troubles in Belgium. Flanders demands its independence voting for the Extremist political party: the NVA. Meanwhile Walloons wondered if they weren’t going to live with French under the RWF’s request (La wallonie rattachée à la France ? ).
Belgium has 11 000 000 inhabitants, 8 300 000 native Belgians and 2 700 000 legalised immigrants. The country’s three official languages are Dutch (Flemish Region), French (Walloon Region) and German. Next to the official languages there is an existence of dialects (:Western Flemish, Oriental Flemish, the Walloon, the Lorraine dialect, the Picard, ect.).
Belgium is a country that is divided historically, linguistically as well as politically. Indeed, it has been a federal State since 1994 and therefore every region is placed on an equal level compared to the federal level. The Belgian federalism is built on the concept of equilibrium of the standards, that's means: a decree voted to the Walloon Parliament cannot be contradicted by a Belgian law.
In Twentieth-Century, the Wallonia was one of the most industrial regions of Europe (coal, metallurgy industry, and glass-making) while Flanders was more agricultural and less-developed. In 1960s, Wallonia's mining industry began to enter a crisis, at this time Flanders caught up its delay in economic development by betting on the automotive, chemical and textile sectors. Moreover, Flanders also took advantage of developing its maritime industry thanks to Antwerp’s port (3rd European container port). Flanders, very well integrated into the globalization, generates herself 80 % of the domestic exports. In 2005, its unemployment rate was estimated at 5,4 % and Wallonia’s at 11,8 %. As a conclusion we state that Flanders thinks that it rules the Belgium’s dynamism because Wallonia is benefiting from the redistribution of the Belgian Budget.
