Keywords
executive
Flemish
king
government
How to Cite
Abstract
Belgium is a founding member of the European Union (EU). It is a trilingual federation, consisting of four different entities constituted on the basis of language. The linguistic groups within the Belgian population have had a long history of conflict. For many years, tensions between the French and Dutch speaking areas have been ameliorated through the principle of “territoriality.” The application of this principle resulted in the division of the country into three areas: the Flemish Region (the Dutchspeaking region in the north), the Walloon Region (the French speaking region in the south) and the Brussels-Capital Region (officially bilingual but predominantly francophone). In each of those areas, only one language has official status, and the speakers of other national languages residing there have no linguistic rights. The principle of territoriality has resolved some tensions between the linguistic groups by guaranteeing linguistic rights within geographic boundaries, yet it has not fully resolved them. The Belgian experience in dealing with a multicultural and multi-linguistic polity will clearly provide valuable insights for other national groups wrestling with the ever-increasing heterogeneity among their linguistic populations. More important in the short term, however, is the ongoing struggle for dominance between French and Dutch speakers within Belgium. The specificity of the Belgian federal system is also reflected in the executive power.
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