| Full name: |
Koninkrijk België (in Flemish-Dutch)
Royaume de Belgique (in French)
Königreich Belgien (in German) |
| National motto: |
Eendracht maakt macht (in Flemish-Dutch)
L'union fait la force (in French)
"Unity makes Strength" |
| National anthem: |
"la Brabançonne" |
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| Current Government: |
Head of state: King Philippe (since July 2013).
Prime Minister: Sophie Wilmes (since October 2019). |
Constitution: Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. |
Bi-cameral parliament: 71 members of senate [Senaat / Senat]. 150 members of Chamber of Representatives [Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers / Chambre des Representants], directly elected to serve five year term by popular vote on the basis of proportional representation. Elections to the Chamber of Representatives were last held in May 2014. Will be held next in May 2019.
The tensions between the Dutch speaking Flemings of the north and the French speaking Walloons of the south led to the 1993 Constitutional Revision – devolution into a federal state with 3 levels of government, federal, regional and linguistic community and 3 regions, Flanders (Flemish-Dutch), Wallonia (French), Brussels - capital (bi-lingual). Successive governments have found it difficult to bridge the linguistic divide.
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Founding member of EU. 22 MEPs
Seat of the EU and NATO.
"Crossroads of Europe" |
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