Question

explain the principle of accommodation followed in belgium

Answer 1

Hi,

The Belgian model of power sharing was based on the principle of accommodation and the following arrangements were made:

• The number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers are equal in the central government.
• Special laws are required for the support of majority of members from each linguistic group.
• No single community can make decisions unilaterally.
• Many powers of the central government have been given to state governments of the two regions of the country.
• The state governments are not subordinate to the Central Government.
• Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation.
• The French- speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch-speaking community has accepted equal representation in the Central Government.
• Apart from the Central and the State Government, there is a third kind of government.
• This ‘community government’ is elected by people belonging to one language community – Dutch, French and German-speaking – no matter where they live.
• This government has the power regarding cultural, educational and language-related issues.