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Municipalities In Belgium
Belgium comprises 581 municipalities ( nl, gemeenten; french: communes; german: Gemeinden), 300 of them grouped into five provinces in Flanders and 262 others in five provinces in Wallonia, while the remaining 19 are in the Brussels Capital Region, which is not divided in provinces. In most cases, the municipalities are the smallest administrative subdivisions of Belgium, but in municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, on the initiative of the local council, sub-municipal administrative entities with elected councils may be created. As such, only Antwerp, having over 500,000 inhabitants, became subdivided into nine districts ( nl, districten). The Belgian arrondissements ( nl, arrondissementen; french: arrondissements; german: Bezirke), an administrative level between province (or the capital region) and municipality, or the lowest judicial level, are in English sometimes called districts as well. Lists of municipalities Here are three lists of municipalities for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duchy Of Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small landlocked country in Western Europe. It borders Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg, is one of the four institutional seats of the European Union (together with Brussels, Frankfurt, and Strasbourg) and the seat of several EU institutions, notably the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority. Luxembourg's culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its French and German neighbors; while Luxembourgish is legally the only national language of the Luxembourgish people, French and German are also used in administrative and judicial matters and all three are considered administrative languages of the country. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaston Eyskens
Gaston François Marie, viscount Eyskens (1 April 1905 – 3 January 1988) was a Christian democratic politician and prime minister of Belgium. He was also an economist and member of the Belgian Christian Social Party (CVP-PSC). He served three terms as the prime minister of Belgium, holding the position from 1949 to 1950, 1958 to 1961 and 1968 to 1973. During his periods in office, Eyskens was confronted with major ideological and linguistic conflicts within Belgium including the Royal Question in 1950, the School War in 1958, the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960 and the split of the University of Leuven in 1970. He oversaw the first steps towards the federalization of Belgium (constitutional reform of 1970). Family Eyskens was born in Lier, the son of Antonius Franciscus Eyskens (1875–1948) and Maria Voeten (1872–1960). On 10 August 1931 he married Gilberte Depetter (1902–1981), with whom he had two sons: Erik Eyskens (Leuven 20 July 1935 – Antwerpen 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Het Nieuwsblad
''Het Nieuwsblad'' (; en, The Newspaper) is a Flemish newspaper that mainly focusses on "a broad view" regarding politics, culture, economics, lifestyle, society and sports. History and profile In 1929, ''Het Nieuwsblad'' was published by ''De Standaard'' for the first time. In 1939, the sports paper ''Sportwereld'' (established in 1912) was purchased by De Standaard and turned into a daily supplement to their two main newspapers, "De Standaard" and "Het Nieuwsblad". In 1957, three other newspapers were purchased by ''De Standaard'' and initially kept in circulation. In 1966, the further publication of two of them, ''Het Nieuws van de Dag'' and ''Het Vrije Volksblad'', was stopped. The same happened with the third paper, Het Handelsblad, in 1979. In 1959, two more newspapers were purchased, of which ''De Landwacht'' disappeared in 1978. The other paper, ''De Gentenaar'', was turned into a "cover-paper" for ''Het Nieuwsblad'' around the city of Ghent. ''De Gentenaar'' sti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herstappe
Herstappe (; ) is a Flemish municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2016, Herstappe had a total population of 89. The total area is 1.35 km² which gives a population density of 66 inhabitants per km². It is the least populous municipality in Belgium, and the third smallest in area. Herstappe has a bilingual (Limburgish and Walloon) population. Formally it is a municipality with linguistic facilities for French speakers, which has so far prevented a merger with neighbouring Tongeren from taking place. Public buildings The village holds a cafe, a municipal office, a catholic church and a post office. All have bilingual signposts. Elections For the Belgian local elections, 2012, Herstappe was the only Belgian municipality where elections were not held as there was only one candidate list. Previously, this had already happened between 1958 and 1994. Mayors The former mayor (mayor from 1994 to 2014), Serge Louwet, was the lowest paid Belgia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fusion Of The Communes
The fusion of the Belgian municipalities (French: ''fusion des communes'', Dutch: ''fusie van Belgische gemeenten'') was a Belgian political process that rationalized and reduced the number of municipalities in Belgium between 1975 and 1983. In 1961, there were 2,663 such municipalities; by 1983, these had been re-arranged and combined into 589 municipalities. The project of merging a number of local authorities to improve service delivery by streamlining administration and creating economies of scale was the work of the government headed by Leo Tindemans (1974–1978), and in particular of Interior Minister Joseph Michel. The legal framework in which the mergers would be implemented was laid out in an act passed by the Belgian Parliament on 30 December 1975.M. Lazzari, P. Verjans and A.-L. DurviauxLa fusion des communes: une réforme trentenaire (Merger of municipalities: a thirty-year old reform) ''Territoire(s) wallon(s)'', special issue (August 2008), pp. 27-34. 21st century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Municipalities With Language Facilities
There are 27 municipalities with language facilities ( nl, faciliteitengemeenten; french: communes à facilités; german: Fazilitäten-Gemeinden) in Belgium which must offer linguistic services to residents in Dutch, French, or German in addition to their single official languages. All other municipalities – with the exception of those in the bilingual Brussels region – are unilingual and only offer services in their official languages, either Dutch or French. Belgian law stipulates that: *12 municipalities in Flanders must offer services in French; of these 12, six ( located around Brussels) are now believed to have become majority French-speaking. * Wallonia contains two language areas: **In the French-speaking part of Wallonia, four municipalities offer services in Dutch and another two offer services in German. **All municipalities in the German-speaking part of Wallonia ( annexed after WWI) offer services in French. *In Brussels, Dutch and French are co-official. *A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monolingualism
Monoglottism (Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. In a different context, "unilingualism" may refer to a language policy which enforces an official or national language over others. Being monolingual or unilingual is also said of a text, dictionary, or conversation written or conducted in only one language, and of an entity in which a single language is either used or officially recognized (in particular when being compared with bilingual or multilingual entities or in the presence of individuals speaking different languages). Note that mono''glottism'' can only refer to lacking the ''ability'' to speak several languages. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Suzzane Romaine pointed out, in her 1995 book ''Bilingualism'', that it would be weird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communities, Regions And Language Areas Of Belgium
Belgium is a federal state comprising three communities and three regions that are based on four language areas. For each of these subdivision types, the subdivisions together make up the entire country; in other words, the types overlap. The language areas were established by the Second Gilson Act, which entered into force on 2 August 1963. The division into language areas was included in the Belgian Constitution in 1970. Through constitutional reforms in the 1970s and 1980s, regionalisation of the unitary state led to a three-tiered federation: federal, regional, and community governments were created, a compromise designed to minimize linguistic, cultural, social, and economic tensions. Schematic overview This is a schematic overview of the basic federal structure of Belgium as defined by Title I of the Belgian Constitution. Each of the entities either have their own parliament and government (for the federal state, the communities and the regions) or their own council ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of Belgium
The Constitution of Belgium ( nl, Belgische Grondwet, french: Constitution belge, german: Verfassung Belgiens) dates back to 1831. Since then Belgium has been a parliamentary monarchy that applies the principles of ministerial responsibility for the government policy and the Trias Politica. The most recent major change to the constitution was the introduction of the Court of Arbitration, whose competencies were expanded by a special law of 2003, to include Title II (Articles 8 to 32), and the Articles 170, 172 and 191 of the Constitution. The Court developed into a constitutional court; in May 2007 it was formally redesignated as the Constitutional Court. This court has the authority to examine whether a law or a decree is in compliance with Title II and Articles 170, 172 and 191. Historical aspects Origins and adoption The Belgian Constitution of 1831 was created in the aftermath of the secession of Belgium from the United Netherlands in the Belgian Revolution. After th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Executive Branch
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems based on the separation of powers, such as the USA, government authority is distributed between several branches in order to prevent power being concentrated in the hands of a single person or group. To achieve this, each branch is subject to checks by the other two; in general, the role of the Legislature is to pass laws, which are then enforced by the Executive, and interpreted by the Judiciary. The Executive can be also be the source of certain types of law, such as a decree or executive order. In those that use fusion of powers, typically Parliamentary systems, the Executive forms the government and its members generally belong to the political party that controls the legislature or "Parliament". Since the Executive requires the support ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unitary Law
The Law on Economic Growth, Social Progress and Fiscal Redressment (french: Loi d'expansion économique, de progrès social et de redressement financier, nl, wet voor de economische expansie, de sociale vooruitgang en het financieel herstel), better known as the Unitary Law (''Loi unique'' or ''Eenheidswet''), was a Belgian law passed in 1961. The law introduced a fiscal austerity programme, intended to reduce Belgium’s large government debt and to respond to the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. It was championed by the Christian Social Party government of Gaston Eyskens. The bill met with fierce protest from Liberals and Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ... alike. Opposition culminated in a general strike over the winter of 1960-61, descri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
