Question

AS THERE ARE MAJORITY OF DUTCH SPEAKING PEOPLE IN BELGIUM AND MINORITY IN CAPITAL,WHY DID THE DUTCH SPEAKING PEOPLE CHANGE THE CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRY AND RULE?

Answer 1

Dear Student,

Belgium is a small country in Europe and has borders with France, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. Despite being the small country , its ethnic composition is very complex. Out of the total population of the country, 59 % resides in the Flemish region and speaks Dutch language, 40% people reside in the Wallonia region and speak French and the remaining one % of the Belgians speak German. In Brussels,the capital city, 80 % people speak French while 20 % are speak Dutch.

Now the French speaking community which was a minority was comparatively rich and powerful and this was resented by the Dutch speaking population. As Dutch speaking people got education and other facilities quite late, there were tensions between French and Dutch people.This conflict was very acute in Brussels though.

To avoid any conflicts in future between the different communities, the Belgian leaders amended their constitution so that everyone can live together. Under this :
1) Brussels was given a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation. The French speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels and the Dutch-speaking people accepted equal representation in the Central Government.
2)Many powers of the central government were given to state governments .The state governments are not subordinate to the Central Government.

All these changes came under Belgian Model , which is very complicated but has worked well for people living there.

Regards.