"text":"Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830; it was occupied by Germany during World Wars I and II. The country prospered in the past half century as a modern, technologically advanced European state and member of NATO and the EU. In recent years, political divisions between the Dutch-speaking Flemish of the north and the French-speaking Walloons of the south have led to constitutional amendments granting these regions formal recognition and autonomy. The capital city of Brussels is home to numerous international organizations including the EU and NATO."
"text":"most of the population concentrated in the northern two-thirds of the country; the southeast is more thinly populated; considered to have one of the highest population densities in the world; approximately 97% live in urban areas"
"text":"intense pressures from human activities: urbanization, dense transportation network, industry, extensive animal breeding and crop cultivation; air and water pollution also have repercussions for neighboring countries"
"text":"most of the population concentrated in the northern two-thirds of the country; the southeast is more thinly populated; considered to have one of the highest population densities in the world; approximately 97% live in urban areas"
"text":"the name derives from the Belgae, an ancient Celtic tribal confederation that inhabited an area between the English Channel and the west bank of the Rhine in the first centuries B.C."
"text":"etymology: may derive from the Old Dutch \"bruoc/broek,\" meaning \"marsh\" and \"sella/zele/sel\" signifying \"home\" to express the meaning \"home in the marsh\""
"text":"3 regions (French: regions, singular - region; Dutch: gewesten, singular - gewest); Brussels-Capital Region, also known as Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (Dutch), Region de Bruxelles-Capitale (French long form), Bruxelles-Capitale (French short form); Flemish Region (Flanders), also known as Vlaams Gewest (Dutch long form), Vlaanderen (Dutch short form), Region Flamande (French long form), Flandre (French short form); Walloon Region (Wallonia), also known as Region Wallone (French long form), Wallonie (French short form), Waals Gewest (Dutch long form), Wallonie (Dutch short form)",
"text":"note: as a result of the 1993 constitutional revision that furthered devolution into a federal state, there are now three levels of government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a complex division of responsibilities; the 2012 sixth state reform transferred additional competencies from the federal state to the regions and linguistic communities"
"text":"\"revisions\" proposed as declarations by the federal government in accord with the king or by Parliament followed by dissolution of Parliament and new elections; adoption requires two-thirds majority vote of a two-thirds quorum in both houses of the next elected Parliament; amended many times, last in 2014"
"text":"civil law system based on the French Civil Code; note - Belgian law continues to be modified in conformance with the legislative norms mandated by the European Union; judicial review of legislative acts"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
"text":"Prime Minister Alexander DE CROO (since 1 October 2020); Deputy Prime Ministers Koen GEENS (27 October 2019), Didier REYNDERS (since 27 October 2019), David CLARINVAL (30 November 2019), Petra DE SUTTER (since 1 October 2020)"
"text":"Council of Ministers formally appointed by the monarch"
},
"elections/appointments":{
"text":"the monarchy is hereditary and constitutional; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually appointed prime minister by the monarch and approved by Parliament"
"text":"bicameral Parliament consists of: Senate or Senaat (in Dutch), Senat (in French) (60 seats; 50 members indirectly elected by the community and regional parliaments based on their election results, and 10 elected by the 50 other senators; members serve 5-year terms) ++ Chamber of Representatives or Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers (in Dutch), Chambre des Representants (in French) (150 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms)"
"text":"Senate - last held 26 May 2019 (next to be held in 2024) Chamber of Representatives - last held on 26 May 2019 (next to be held in 2024); note - elections coincided with the EU elections"
"text":"Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; composition men 32, women 28, percent of women 46.7% ++ Chamber of Representatives - percent of vote by party - N-VA 16.0%, VB 11.9%, PS 9.5%, CD&V 8.9%, PVDA+/PTB 8.62%, Open VLD 8.5%, MR 7.6%, SP.A 6.7%, Ecolo 6.1%, Groen 6.1%, CDH 3.7%, Defi 2.2%, PP 1.1%, other 20.1%; seats by party - N-VA 25, VB 18, PS 20, CD&V 12, PVDA+PTB 12, Open VLD 12, MR 14, SP.A 9, Ecolo 13, Groen 8, CDH 5, Defi 2; composition - men 86, women 64, percent of women 42.7%"
"text":"note: the 1993 constitutional revision that further devolved Belgium into a federal state created three levels of government (federal, regional, and linguistic community) with a complex division of responsibilities; this reality leaves six governments, each with its own legislative assembly; changes above occurred since the sixth state reform"
"text":"Constitutional Court or Grondwettelijk Hof (in Dutch) and Cour Constitutionelle (in French) (consists of 12 judges - 6 Dutch-speaking and 6 French-speaking); Supreme Court of Justice or Hof van Cassatie (in Dutch) and Cour de Cassation (in French) (court organized into 3 chambers: civil and commercial; criminal; social, fiscal, and armed forces; each chamber includes a Dutch division and a French division, each with a chairperson and 5-6 judges)"
"text":"Constitutional Court judges appointed by the monarch from candidates submitted by Parliament; judges appointed for life with mandatory retirement at age 70; Supreme Court judges appointed by the monarch from candidates submitted by the High Council of Justice, a 44-member independent body of judicial and non-judicial members; judges appointed for life"
"text":"Courts of Appeal; regional courts; specialized courts for administrative, commercial, labor, immigration, and audit issues; magistrate's courts; justices of the peace"
"text":"Flemish parties: ++ Christian Democratic and Flemish or CD&V [Wouter BEKE] ++ Flemish Liberals and Democrats or Open VLD [Gwendolyn RUTTEN] ++ Groen [Meyrem ALMACI] (formerly AGALEV, Flemish Greens) ++ New Flemish Alliance or N-VA [Bart DE WEVER] ++ Social Progressive Alternative or SP.A [John CROMBEZ] ++ Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) or VB [Tom VAN GRIEKEN] ++ Francophone parties: ++ Ecolo (Francophone Greens) [Jean-Marc NOLLET, Zakia KHATTABI] ++ Francophone Federalist Democrats or Defi [Olivier MAINGAIN] ++ Humanist and Democratic Center or CDH [Maxine PREVOT] ++ People's Party or PP [Mischael MODRIKAMEN] ++ Reform Movement or MR [Charles MICHEL] ++ Socialist Party or PS [Elio DI RUPO] ++ Workers' Party or PTB [Peter MERTENS] ++ other minor parties"
"text":"27 Boulevard du Regent [Regentlaan], B-1000 Brussels"
},
"mailing address":{
"text":"PSC 82, Box 002, APO AE 09710"
},
"FAX":{
"text":"[32] (2) 811-4500"
}
},
"Flag description":{
"text":"three equal vertical bands of black (hoist side), yellow, and red; the vertical design was based on the flag of France; the colors are those of the arms of the duchy of Brabant (yellow lion with red claws and tongue on a black field)"
"text":"note: adopted 1830; according to legend, Louis-Alexandre DECHET, an actor at the theater in which the revolution against the Netherlands began, wrote the lyrics with a group of young people in a Brussels cafe"
"text":"Belgium's central geographic location and highly developed transport network have helped develop a well-diversified economy, with a broad mix of transport, services, manufacturing, and high tech. Service and high-tech industries are concentrated in the northern Flanders region while the southern region of Wallonia is home to industries like coal and steel manufacturing. Belgium is completely reliant on foreign sources of fossil fuels, and the planned closure of its seven nuclear plants by 2025 should increase its dependence on foreign energy. Its role as a regional logistical hub makes its economy vulnerable to shifts in foreign demand, particularly with EU trading partners. Roughly three-quarters of Belgium's trade is with other EU countries, and the port of Zeebrugge conducts almost half its trade with the United Kingdom alone, leaving Belgium's economy vulnerable to the outcome of negotiations on the UK's exit from the EU. ++ Belgium's GDP grew by 1.7% in 2017 and the budget deficit was 1.5% of GDP. Unemployment stood at 7.3%, however the unemployment rate is lower in Flanders than Wallonia, 4.4% compared to 9.4%, because of industrial differences between the regions. The economy largely recovered from the March 2016 terrorist attacks that mainly impacted the Brussels region tourist and hospitality industry. Prime Minister Charles MICHEL's center-right government has pledged to further reduce the deficit in response to EU pressure to decrease Belgium's high public debt of about 104% of GDP, but such efforts would also dampen economic growth. In addition to restrained public spending, low wage growth and higher inflation promise to curtail a more robust recovery in private consumption. ++ The government has pledged to pursue a reform program to improve Belgium's competitiveness, including changes to labor market rules and welfare benefits. These changes have generally made Belgian wages more competitive regionally, but have raised tensions with trade unions, which have called for extended strikes. In 2017, Belgium approved a tax reform plan to ease corporate rates from 33% to 29% by 2018 and down to 25% by 2020. The tax plan also included benefits for innovation and SMEs, intended to spur competitiveness and private investment."
"text":"engineering and metal products, motor vehicle assembly, transportation equipment, scientific instruments, processed food and beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, base metals, textiles, glass, petroleum"
"text":"note: data cover general government debt and includes debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions; general government debt is defined by the Maastricht definition and calculated by the National Bank of Belgium as consolidated gross debt; the debt is defined in European Regulation EC479/2009 concerning the implementation of the protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the Treaty on European Union (Treaty of Maastricht) of 7 February 1992; the sub-sectors of consolidated gross debt are: federal government, communities and regions, local government, and social security funds"
"text":"highly developed, technologically advanced, and completely automated domestic and international telephone and telegraph facilities; LTE availability is nearly universal in mobile sector; ongoing investments in developing applications and services for migration to 5G, operators are looking into repurposing 3G infrastructure and spectrum as they gear up for 5G; Europe-wide approach to simultaneous movement to 5Gon going; 5G will be main motivationfor growth and revenue in years to come;consumer are interested in quad-play/bundled services (broadband +television +telephone +wireless services)which will mean MNOs (mobile network operators)areenhancing their fixed-line offerings (2020)"
"text":"country code - 32; landing points for Concerto, UK-Belgium, Tangerine, and SeaMeWe-3, submarine cables that provide links to Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Asia; satellite earth stations - 7 (Intelsat - 3) (2019)"
},
"note":{
"text":"note: the COVID-19 outbreak is negatively impacting telecommunications production and supply chains globally; consumer spending on telecom devices and services has also slowed due to the pandemic's effect on economies worldwide; overall progress towards improvements in all facets of the telecom industry - mobile, fixed-line, broadband, submarine cable and satellite - has moderated"
"text":"a segmented market with the three major communities (Flemish, French, and German-speaking) each having responsibility for their own broadcast media; multiple TV channels exist for each community; additionally, in excess of 90% of households are connected to cable and can access broadcasts of TV stations from neighboring countries; each community has a public radio network coexisting with private broadcasters"
"text":"Belgian Armed Forces: Land Component, Naval Component, Air Component, Medical Service (2019)"
},
"Military expenditures":{
"text":"0.93% of GDP (2019) / 0.93% of GDP (2018) / 0.9% of GDP (2017) / 0.91% of GDP (2016) / 0.92% of GDP (2015)"
},
"Military and security service personnel strengths":{
"text":"the Belgian Armed Forces have approximately 27,000 active duty personnel (10,500 Army; 1,500 Navy; 5,000 Air Force; 1,200 Medical Service; 9,000 other, including joint staff, support, and training schools) (2019 est.)"
},
"Military equipment inventories and acquisitions":{
"text":"the Belgian Armed Forces have a mix of weapons systems from European countries, Israel, and the US; since 2010, France, Germany, and Switzerland are the leading suppliers of armaments; Belgium has an advanced, export-focused defense industry that focuses on components and subcontracting (2019 est.)"
},
"Military deployments":{
"text":"125 France (contributing member of EuroCorps); 100 Mali (EUTM/MINUSMA); est. 260 Baltic States (NATO) (2020)"
"text":"in 2018, the Defense Ministers of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the creation of a Composite Special Operations Component Command (C-SOCC); C-SOCC is scheduled to be fully operational in 2021 (2020)"
}
},
"Terrorism":{
"Terrorist group(s)":{
"text":"Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps/Qods Force; Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (2019)",
"note":{
"text":"note: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
"text":"growing producer of synthetic drugs and cannabis; transit point for US-bound ecstasy; source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine processors; transshipment point for cocaine, heroin, hashish, and marijuana entering Western Europe; despite a strengthening of legislation, the country remains vulnerable to money laundering related to narcotics, automobiles, alcohol, and tobacco; significant domestic consumption of ecstasy"
