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Go to Belgium 1 - Political Status Belgium is a kingdom. King Albert II succeeded to the throne in 1993. His authority is purely symbolic, with executive power over the ministers. He can dissolve the Federal Parliament. It is the Prime Minister (presently Mr Guy Verhofstadt) who runs the country, he is responsible towards Parliament. The legislative power of the county is held by the King, the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. The Chamber of Representatives is composed of 150 members who are elected by general election for a four year term of office. There are 71 senators, 40 are elected for a four year term, 21 are chosen by the communal councils and co-opted by their peers, and 10 are senators by right. There must be an equal number of French-speaking and Flemish ministers. The Flemish, Walloon and Brussels' regions and the three communities (Flemish, French and German) have each a legislative assembly which is elected by general election. There are three levels of administrative organization : central, community and regional. The headquarters of the European Community are in Brussels. Historical outline : 1830 Belgium becomes independent of Holland. 1970 Belgium became a federal state made up of three regions : the Walloons, the Flemish region and the Region of Brussels. Each region possesses its own government (from 1980), with nine members responsible towards a legislative assembly. The area of responsibility covers the policies of economy and labour, external trade, tourism, applied scientific research, transport and public works, housing, planning and developement, environment and agriculture, energy and water etc 1979 Mr. Martens forms his first government 1988 Mr. Martens forms his 6th government. In the June 1989 European elections, 24 deputies were elected to the Assembly of the European communities. The francophone Socialist party won 41% of the votes and the Christian Socialist party won 4%. On 3rd April 1990 King Baudoin refused to endorse a law authorizing abortion. The Council of Ministers then removed his right to reign, but he was re-instated on the 5th April. 1991 legislative elections won by the ecologists and the Flemish extreme right wing (Vlaams Blok). 6th March 1992, the Flemish Christian Socialist Jean-Luc Dehaene formed a government with an alliance of the 4 leading political groups 31st July, the death of King Baudoin. He had reigned since 1951. 9th August 1993, Prince Albert of Liege, the brother of Baudoin, is sworn in before the Parliament and becomes the sixth King of Belgium, under the name of Albert II. Mr Guy Verhofstadt is Prime Minister since 12th July 1999. Belgium is a member of the United Nations since 1945 and is also a member of UNCTAD, NATO, WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, 2 - Geographical situation The total surface area of Belgium is 30,513 sq. kms., the population is 10,200,000, making an average population density of 334 inhabitants per sq. km. It is situated to the north of France, to the west of Germany and Luxemburg, to the south of the Netherlands and on its east coast is the North Sea (with the towns of la Panne, Ostende, Blankenberg and Zeebrugge). The territory stretches over a total distance of 230 kms from north to south and 290 kms from east to west. The Belgian coast line is 66 kms long. The provinces are Eastern Flanders, Western Flanders, Hainaut and Brabant. The regions are Antwerp, Namur, Liege and Luxemburg. The Ardennes are in the south. The Belgian rivers are the Yser, Escaut, Lys, Dendre, Senne, Meuse, Nethe, Sambre, Semois, Ourthe, Amblève, Vesdre, Gette. 3 - Economy & statistics The Belgian economy is doing well generally. The gross national product of the country for 1999 was 234 billion dollars, making a GNP per inhabitant of $22,880, rating Belgium among the very rich countries. The public debt has fallen below the symbolic barrrier of 10,000 billion BF, and the government can now concentrate on its main aims : get the budget to balance in 2001 and bring the debt to 100% of the GDP in 2003. Over the last months it is the internal demand which has been stimulating economic growth. This increase in internal consumption has been largely superior to what was expected. Exports of goods have increased, they represented 152.7 billion dollars in 1999. There are still regional discrepancies, while Flanders profits from strategically placed ports and high tech industries, the Walloons, traditionally a mining, iron and steel and textile region, have been going through a difficult period of reconversion accompanied by a high rate of unemployment. According to statistics 5% of the unemployed live in the Flanders and 16% in the Walloons. Reforms carried out in 1993 led to a lot of the central power being transferred to the linguistic communities and the regions. Special aid programmes have been set up e.g. premiums or financial aid for investments, subsidies to help paying back interest, exemptions from property charges, accelerated debt liquidation, subsidies for a first installation, for labour, for consultancy etc ... Consumption and investment are generally progressing well. International capital is still being invested, particularly in the Brussel's region. Belgium is one of the best countries for overseas trade, it is centrally positioned geographically, its ports have a solid reputation, there is a competent labour force and a good level of know-how. The Belgian market is highly competitive. The main economic indicators (in percentage) 1997 1998 1999 2000 economic growth 3.2 2.9 1.8 2.8 consumption (variation) 2.3 3.4 2.2 2.2 investment (variation) 6.3 3.7 3.5 3.1 inflation 1.6 0.7 1.3 1.7 unemployment rate 12.4 11.6 10.8 10.6 short term interest rate 3.4 3.6 2.9 3.3 public balance/GDP -1.9 -1.0 -1.0 -0.9 public debt/GDP 121.2 116.2 114.1 111.0 exports (variation) 7.1 3.4 1.0 6.0 Imports (variation) 6.0 5.2 1.6 5.7 trade balance (billions $) 9.5 10.1 6.3 5.8 current balance (billions $) 11.4 10.9 8.0 8.4 current balance/GDP (%) 4.7 4.4 3.2 3.3 (source OECD) Division of the GDP by activity sectors: agriculture : 1.1% industry : 18.4% mining : 9.2% services : 71.3% 4 - Agriculture In spite of a great diversity of crops (sugar beet, fruit and vegetables, cereals, meat, milk products) Belgian agriculture does not contribute a great deal to the national economy and it actually only occupies 1% of the territory. The main crops are wheat (1.6 million tons in 1999), potatoes (2.7 million tons) and barley (0.36 million tons). Due to the animal production however the agricultural balance has a large surplus. In 1999 Belgian livestock was made up of 3.185 million head of cattle and 7.6 million pigs. The pig production is double the market need, milk makes up a sixth of the country's exports and 300,000 heads of cattle are exported each year. Sheep and goats also make up an important part of the stock production. The dioxine crisis in 1999 really shook up the Belgian foodstuff sector and cut the growth of the GDP by 0.25%, but the authorities and the banks supported the industries which had been affected and already by July 1999, they had managed to get back to the same level of activity that they were at before the crisis. 20% of the country is forested and timber cutting is allowed, in 1998 4.3 million cubic meters were cut. Fishing is not a very profitable activity, 31 million tons were fished in 1997.  5 - Industry Belgian industry has been dominated for decades by heavy industrial sectors, mining, iron and steel, automobile and chemical industries that are concentrated in the Walloons. The steel industry now belongs to foreigners. The foodstuff sector is another mainstay with 7,000 companies, 87,000 employees and a 150 billion BF turnover. Belgium has a diverse industrial production. Recent studies show that the most competitive sectors for export are in mechanical construction, glass, plastic, composites, wood, foodstuffs and the medical and pharmaceutical industries. In Flanders the biotechnological sector has developed, benefitting from the microbiological experience of the brewers, and also the sector of vocal recognition computor software. Secondary industrial sectors include the chemical and electronic sectors, and the traditional industries of glass and textiles. Textiles and clothing are very dependent on overseas markets, 70% of the production is sold abroad. Belgium, which is the leading world exporter of carpeting has been penalized by the dropping off of sales in certain markets with their own internal problems (e.g. Russia) and by consumers preferring alternative products like parquet or tiles. There is a vast overproduction. The mining sector is not very prosperous. In 1960 23 million tons of coal was mined, but the last coal mine was closed down in 1993. The main resource today is electronuclear power. In 1997 78.06 billion kWh were produced and 61% of that was nuclear. The Walloons are suffering from the restructuring of their old activities, coal mining, steel, glass and cement industries and have a large rate of unemployment. In order to help the restructuring, a plan to aid and attract both investment and research is being implemented which encourages tertiary and high added value industries. Both the wool and the textile industries have been totally transformed and are redeveloping dynamically. The glass industry, which is specialized in bottling is also the leading European manufacturer of car windscreens. The aeronautic and the space industries produce 90% for export. Flanders has a secondary sector which is both strong and diversified with flourishing metallurgical, chemical and plastic industries as well as paper, textile and specialized foodstuff industries. Most of the country's import-export activities go via the two main ports in this region, Antwerp and Zeebrugge. There are solid and varied infrastructures. The labour force is multi-lingual and has a reputation for productivity. Apart from its huge port complex, Antwerp is known for its petro-chemical industry, car manufacturing and diamond trading. The building and public works sector employs 220,000 people and earns 5.6% of the GDP. The communal elections in 2000 and several heavy infrastructural development programmes (a second Brussels-Europe high-speed train terminal, a national rail network etc) have been beneficial to the public work sectors. In the housing sector there is strong competition and a lot of small companies have been ruined. Antwerp has become the second biggest petro-chemical centre in the world, after Houston in the United States, with 4 petrol refineries and about 20 chemical and petro-chemical companies. Brussels removal, Buxelles furniture depository, research apartment furnished Brussels, Hiring apartment furnished Brussels, To work in Belgium, Careers international in Belgium, To live, study and work in Belgium, Your trip business in Belgium. 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