Belgium

G

Royal Controversy

On March 12, 1950, after more than a year of successive governmental crises brought on by the controversy over the king, the Belgian electorate went to the polls in an advisory plebiscite on the question of Leopold’s return. The return of the king from exile was favoured by 57.6 per cent of the voters. On July 20 the Belgian parliament ratified popular sentiment. During the following week strikes, demonstrations, and riots occurred in many urban areas, raising the possibility of a civil war. On August 1, after consultations with government and political leaders, Leopold agreed to assign his royal prerogatives to his son, Crown Prince Baudouin, and to abdicate the following year, when his son attained his majority. Leopold abdicated on July 16, 1951, and Baudouin was proclaimed King the next day.

H

European Cooperation

The 1950s were marked by the concentrated effort of European leaders to effect a politico-economic union of the Western European nations. Taking an active role in this movement, Belgium—along with France, West Germany (now part of the United Federal Republic of Germany), Luxembourg, Italy, and the Netherlands—became a charter member of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952. When France refused to ratify the treaty establishing the European Defence Community in 1954, Foreign Minister Paul Henri Spaak initiated the second “launching of Europe”. His efforts were instrumental in the founding, in 1957, of the European Economic Community. Brussels became the seat of its governing commission and much of its bureaucracy, reflecting the key role that Spaak played in shaping the new European order. That same year the nation became a member of the European Atomic Energy Community. Belgium has greatly benefited since from its membership and key role in these supranational organizations.

I

Crises of Empire and Nation

In 1960 uprisings in the Belgian Congo forced Belgium to withdraw from its African empire. On June 30, 1960, King Baudouin proclaimed the independence of the colony (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). In 1962 the Belgian-administered UN trust territory of Ruanda-Urundi achieved independence as two states, Rwanda and Burundi.

Within Belgium, the long-standing rivalry between Flemings and Walloons frequently erupted into riots during the 1960s. A government settlement effected in September 1963 changed the official language boundaries, but the problem was not that easily solved. In January 1968 clashes between Walloons and Flemings led to the collapse of the government. The Christian Social leader, Gaston Eyskens, formed a coalition with the Socialists in June. The coalition retained its majority in 1971, but the Cabinet resigned in November 1972. A three-party coalition under Socialist leadership followed, but, weakened by linguistic and cultural tensions, it fell in January 1974. After elections in March, the Christian Social leader, Léo Tindemans, formed a coalition with the Liberals and the Rassemblement Wallon. He held office until February 1977 despite an economic recession. Elections followed in April, but the results made the formation of a new government impossible until an agreement was reached providing for greater regional autonomy. That agreement was rejected by parliament, and new elections in December 1978 proved inconclusive.

In the 1980s the Christian Social parties formed the Cabinets, usually under the leadership of Wilfried Martens. He formed his eighth government in 1988, and in January 1989 parliament passed a devolution bill designed to transfer power from the central government to the three ethnolinguistic regions (see Language above). Implementation of this law moved slowly, and the November 1991 elections resulted in a reduced plurality for the Christian Socialists. Martens resigned as party leader, and his successor, Jean-Luc Dehaene, formed a new centre-left government in March 1992. Belgium moved to support increased economic and political cooperation in Europe by ratifying the Maastricht Treaty on European union in the autumn of 1992. In May 1993 Belgium completed the devolution process, officially becoming a federal country with three regions, or states. King Baudouin died on July 31, 1993, and was succeeded by his brother Albert II.

In 1994 the death of the president of Rwanda in a plane crash sparked off a bloody civil war between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes in which possibly 1 million people died. Belgian troops figured prominently in initial UN attempts to end the fighting.

Following a general election in May 1995, Jean-Luc Dehaene’s coalition government was returned to office. In October 1995 the Chamber of Representatives voted to remove the parliamentary immunity of Willi Claes, the Belgian Secretary-General of NATO and former deputy prime minister, to allow his prosecution on corruption charges relating to bribes he allegedly received in the 1980s from the Italian helicopter company Agusta. In a contentious ruling, the supreme Belgian military court decided in March 1996 that Irma Laplasse, a wartime collaborator whose cause had been taken up by Flemish nationalists, had been wrongly executed for treason in 1948. Facing a worsening deficit crisis and strong trade union opposition, the government received in May 1996 powers to introduce economic austerity measures and social security reforms by decree.

The investigation in August of organized paedophile activity caused widespread concern that the judicial system was in need of reform and that the perpetrators of the crimes had received police protection. The scope of the investigations resulted in the arrest in October of the suspected assassins of André Cools, the former deputy prime minister, who had been shot dead in 1991. The paedophile investigation widened further in November when it was confirmed that the deputy prime minister, Elio di Rupo, was alleged to have had some involvement; the allegations were found to be without foundation in December. In late January and early February 1997 anti-government demonstrations took place in Brussels and Tubize, sparked by growing resentment of policies to cut public expenditure and by the closure of the steelworks at Tubize.

Former deputy prime minister and former leader of the Walloon Socialist Party (PS) Guy Spitaels was indicted on bribery charges in March 1997. The charges related to allegations that the PS had accepted illegal payments from the Dassault aviation group in return for favour in awarding government contracts. The parliamentary committee established in October 1996 to investigate the paedophile murders that had caused widespread shock and anger in the country presented its report in April. While it accused the police and judiciary of gross incompetence, it found no evidence of the “high level protection” that had been alleged to involve some of those in positions of authority, and which had provoked widespread public anger, culminating in the White March, a mass demonstration of 250,000 people in Brussels in October. Doubts were cast over the future of the investigation in June, when a former member of the commission revealed details of evidence given, and opinions within the commission. The justice minister and the interior minister both resigned in April 1998, in the wake of the government crisis following the brief escape from custody of Marc Dutroux, the chief suspect in the child murder scandal. Prime Minister Dehaene survived a subsequent vote of confidence by 81 votes to 64.

Belgium's centre-left coalition government suffered a major defeat in parliamentary elections in June 1999, which was widely attributed to rising public anger over a food contamination scandal. In late May the government revealed that a wide variety of Belgian foodstuffs might have been contaminated by the cancer-causing chemical, dioxin. Officials reportedly allowed more than a month to pass before warning the public about potential health hazards. A coalition government led by centre-right Liberal parties took office on July 12, 1999. The new government included the left-leaning Socialist parties and the environmentalist Green parties. Its formation marked the first time since 1958 that Christian Democrat parties were excluded from national government. Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Flemish Liberals, was sworn in as Belgium's new prime minister.

In local elections held in October 2000 a far-right-wing party, Vlaams Blok, which wanted independence for the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders and an end to all immigration, achieved significant gains. In 2001 the government decriminalized the use of cannabis as in other Western nations, namely the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. As part of Belgium’s commitment to the single European currency, Euro notes and coins were adopted in January 2002.

In a highly significant move, in February 2002, the government formally apologized for its part in the death of Patrice Lumumba, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium’s former colony, in 1961. The government expressed its “sincere regrets” at the killing, and accepted “moral responsibility” for his death and issued an apology to his family and the Congolese people. The government also set up a fund in Lumumba’s name.

A suit brought by Palestinians, under Belgium’s “universal jurisdiction” law, to prosecute Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon for involvement in war crimes concerning the massacres of Palestinians by Lebanese Christians at the Shatila and Sabre refugee camps in 1982 was given a provisional go-ahead by the Belgian courts. Under the ruling, Sharon was liable to face prosecution once he left office. He was the most high profile of a number of world leaders who faced similar action under Belgium’s 1993 law. The legislation was dropped in August 2003.

Prime Minister Verhofstadt called a general election for May 18, 2003; his party secured 25 seats and with the support of the French and Flemish Socialists parties (with 25 and 23 seats respectively) seemed set to secure his second coalition government. In the following year’s European elections the 24 seats were won by a total of 10 different parties.

In what was termed the “trial of the century” Marc Dutroux was convicted in June 2004 of kidnapping and raping six girls and murdering four of them. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. In November 2004 the Vlaams Blok political party was declared racist and subsequently disbanded. In the general election held in June 2007 the ruling coalition suffered significant losses, with the Flemish Liberal Democrats gaining just 18 seats, one more than Vlaams Belang the successor party to Vlaams Blok and 12 fewer than the Flemish Christian Democrats, the biggest winners. Verhoftstadt tendered his resignation after the defeat. The Flemish Christian Democrat leader Yves Leterme, in favour of greater autonomy for the regions, was expected to form Belgium’s next ruling coalition as prime minister but inter-party wrangling over devolution issues led to a political impasse that lasted nine months. Verhofstadt was re-sworn in as caretaker prime minister while negotiations continued. Finally, in March 2008, Leterme was sworn in as prime minister. The government was backed in a confidence vote the same month. Proposals for constitutional reform to try to end the political deadlock surrounding devolution were set for July 2008.