1. POLITICS OF BELGIUM
Benedict (Viktor) Gombocz

2. GEOGRAPHY OF BELGIUM
 Location: Western Europe, bordering the
North Sea, between France and the
Netherlands
 Area
 Total: 30,528 km
 Country comparison to the world: 141
 Land: 30,278 sq km
 Water: 250 sq km
 Area – comparative: About the size of
Maryland
 Land boundaries:
 Total: 1,385 km
 Border countries: France 620 km, Germany
167 km, Luxembourg 148 km, Netherlands
450 km
 Coastline: 66.5 km

3. PHYSICAL MAP OF BELGIUM

4. RELIGION IN BELGIUM
 The predominate religion in Belgium in Belgium is
Christianity; the largest denomination is
Catholicism, with roughly 57% of the population
belonging to the Catholic Church, 1.7% to
Protestantism, and 0.3% to Orthodox Christian
Churches in the 2000s.
 Belgium abides by separation of Church and State
and freedom of religion; the State may not force
anyone to follow a specific religion, nor can it ask
anyone which religion he/she follows.
 Islam is the second biggest religion; 6% of the
population is Muslim (3.9% in Flanders, 4% in
Wallonia, 25.5% in Brussels), or even 8.1% as of
2011 (counting all the immigrants with Islamic
background).
 A 2006 inquiry in Flanders revealed that 55% of its
citizens claimed they are religious, while 36%
believe that God created the world.
 A 2011 survey by Ipsos MORI indicated that 49% of
the population follows Christianity, 6% follows
Islam, 4% follows unnamed other religions, 2%
follows Buddhism, 31% is non-religious, and 8%
declined to answer.

5. RELIGION STATISTICS
 Roman Catholic: 75%
 Other (includes Protestant): 25%

6. BACKGROUND OF BELGIUM’S POLITICAL SYSTEM
 The political system of Belgium functions in a structure of a federal parliamentary
representative democratic constitutional monarchy, with the King of the Belgians as Head of
State and the PM of Belgium as head of government in a multi-party structure.
 The government exercises executive power; federal legislative power is vested in both the
government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of
Representatives.
 The federation is comprised of (cultural/political) communities and (territorial) regions.
 The political institutes of Belgium are complicated.
 Belgium, with an astonishing number of political bodies and institutes on a small land of 30,500
square kilometers, claims the European record of the most expensive political structure: at least
57 ministers and state secretaries stretch across six different governments, enclosed by seven
parliaments and a dozen local governments.
 This complex political structure is considered to have led to the constant communitarian clashes
(and additionally as a major cause of the accelerating national debt-issue) in the country.
 Most political power is prepared around the necessity to represent the key cultural (and
political) communities.

7. BACKGROUND OF BELGIUM’S POLITICAL SYSTEM
(CONT.)
 Since about 1970, the major national Belgian political parties have separated into
individual representations for every communities’ benefit, defense of their
ideologies aside.
 These parties belong to three key political families, but are close to the centre: the
right-wing Liberals, the social conservative Christian Democrats, and the left-wing
Socialists.
 Other notable newer parties are the Green parties, and currently (chiefly in
Flanders), the nationalist and far-right parties.
 Politics in Belgium is influenced by lobby groups, including trade unions and
employers’ organizations, like the Federation of Belgian Enterprises.
 Majority rule is frequently overruled by a de facto confederal decision making
procedure in which the minority, i.e., French speakers, are entitled to essential
protections by specialty majorities (2/3 overall and majority in both of the two main
communities).

8. GOVERNMENT OF BELGIUM
 Capital (and largest city): Brussels*
 Official language(s): Dutch, French,
German
 Demonym: Belgian
 Government: Federal parliamentary
constitutional monarchy
 King: Albert II
 Prime Minister: Elio Di Rupo
 Legislature: Federal Parliament
 Upper house: Senate
 Lower house: Chamber of
Representatives
 *While the Brussels region is the de facto
capital, the City of Brussels municipality is
the de jure capital

9. MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES
 Main Flemish parties:
 Christian Democratic and Flemish (Christen-
Democratisch en Vlaams, CD & V)
 Groen (Groen)
 Libertarian, Direct, Democratic (Libertair, Direct,
Democratisch, LDD)
 New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie,
N-VA)
 Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse
Liberalen en Democraten, Open Vld)
 Socialist Party – Differently (Socialistische Partij
Anders, sp.a)
 Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang, VB)
 Main French-speaking parties:
 Ecolo
 Francophone Democratic Federalists (Fédéralistes
Démocrates Francophones, FDF)
 Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre démocrate
humaniste, CdH)
 Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS)
 Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur, MR)
 Citizens’ Movement for Change (Mouvement des
Citoyens pour le Changement, MCC)
 German-speaking parties:
 Christian Social Party (Christlich-Soziale Partei,
CSP)
 Party for Freedom and Progress (Partei für Freiheit
und Fortschritt, PFF)
 ProDG (Pro deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft)

10. CONSTITUTION
 Belgium’s constitution, the country’s principal source of law and its basis of
the political structure, went into effect on 7 February 1831.
 It has been amended various times, but the most significant changes were
carried out only in 1970 and 1993.
 In 1970, in reaction to a rising civil clash between the Dutch-speaking and
French-speaking communities in Brussels, the Government proclaimed that
“the unitary state, its structure and functioning as laid down by law, had
become obsolete”.
 The new constitution acknowledged the reality of strong communitarian and
regional distinctions within Belgium, but wanted to settle those distinctions by
a distribution of power to the communities and the regions.
 In 1993, the parliament authorized a legal package that turned Belgium into a
full-fledged federal state.

11. ALBERT II
 Born 6 June 1934 at the Stuyvenberg Castle.
 Current King of the Belgians since 9 August
1993; succeeded his older brother, King
Baudouin, who passed away without issue.
 Is a member of the royal house of Belgium,
previously called Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
 Is the uncle of the current ruling Grand Duke of
Luxembourg, Henri.
 Is the second son of King Leopold III (1901-
1983) and his first wife, Astrid of Sweden
(1905-1935).
 His godparents were Prince Felix of
Luxembourg and his paternal grandmother,
Queen Elisabeth of Belgium.
 Is the first cousin of King Harald V of Norway,
Princess Astrid of Norway, and Princess
Ragnhild of Norway.

12. ELIO DI RUPO
 Born 18 July 1951 in Morlanwelz.
 Current PM of Belgium; assumed
office on 6 December 2011 and leads
the Di Rupo I Government.
 Also the current leader of the
Socialist Party (PS).
 First Francophone to hold the post
since Paul Vanden Boeynants in
1979; also Belgium’s first socialist PM
since Edmond Leburton’s departure
from office in 1974.
 Also the first Belgian PM of non-
Walloon or Flemish descent and the
only openly homosexual leader of an
EU member state.

13. PARTI SOCIALISTE
 Francophone social-democratic political party; founded in 1978.
 Second biggest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and
the biggest Francophone party as of the 2010 general election.
 Led by Elio Di Rupo, current PM of Belgium, as of 6 December 2011.
 Also supplies the Minister-Presidents of the Walloon region and
French Community (Rudy Demotte), the Brussels-Capital Region
(Charles Picqué), and the German-speaking Community (Karl-Heinz
Lambertz) of Belgium.
 Known as the Sozialistische Partei (SP) in the German-speaking
community.
 Frequently participates in governing coalitions; rules most local
authorities due to the extremely fragmented nature of Belgium’s
political institutes, especially in Francophone areas.
 Has concurrently managed five provincial executive bodies in the
years since 1999: the Government of the French Community, the
Walloon Government, the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region,
plus the COCOF, a local subsidiary of the French Community
Government in Brussels, and the Government of the German-
speaking Community.
 The party, or its members, have on occasion been tried for criminal
activities and political scandals, regarding mostly corruption and
financial scam, such as the Cools assassination, the Agusta scandal,
the Dassault Affair, the Carolorégienne affair, and the ICDI affair; the
Carolorégienne affair led to Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe’s
resignation as Minister-President of the Walloon region.
 Member of Socialist International (International affiliation), Party of
European Socialists (European affiliation), and Progressive Alliance of
Socialists and Democrats (EP group).

14. THE END (HET EINDE, LA FIN, DAS ENDE)