OverviewBelgium always had a
lot more going for it than the faceless political and bureaucratic buildings
that litter the outskirts of its capital,
Brussels,
would have you believe. A
string
of engaging historic
cities such as Bruges, Ghent, Lií¨ge, Namur (and Brussels itself)
offer
impressive architecture,
lively nightlife,
first-rate cuisine and numerous other
attractions for visitors. Today, the anachronistic images of ‘boring Belgium'
have been well and truly banished, as more and more people discover its very
individual charms for themselves.
There is reinvented
Antwerp, a
hotbed
of fashion and slick modern design, along with the more bucolic
charms of the beautiful mountainous
Ardennes region to the east, and the
delightfully picturesque
Meuse Valley
as well as the sweeping sand of the
coastline resorts of the western seaboard. Belgium is also a land whose
specialities include ubiquitous
beers, delicate
chocolates,
moules frites and Belgian
waffles.
Easy to both access and to
travel around, pocket-sized Belgium
is divided into the
Flemish north
(Flemish-speaking) and the
Walloon south
(French-speaking). Brussels,
the capital, is the heart of both the country and the European Union, as well
as the headquarters of NATO.
Belgium's
democracy is of the typically stable, cautiously progressive,
western-European liberal type. The principal domestic problem is continuing
tension between the Flemish-speaking north and the French-speaking south of the
country. However, throughout the years, Belgium has evolved towards an
efficient federal system. Five
reforms have been necessary to achieve this (in 1970, 1980, 1988-89, 1993 and
2001). In 2005, Belgium
celebrated 25 years of federalism and for the first time ever, article one of
the Belgian Constitution stated that 'Belgium is a federal state made out
of communities and regions'.
AuthorSharon Harris
