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Chapter 18 Other Situations of Interest Belgium HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Belgium became an independent state in 1830, following earlier attachment to Holland and France and unification with Holland in 1815 as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. After declaring its independence , Belgium was recognized by the major European powers as an independent and "perpetually neutral" state. Belgium has been home to at least two distinct ethnic groups since the sixteenth century: the Dutch-speaking, Protestant, Flemish community in the north, and the French-speaking, Catholic, Walloon community in the south. In addition, there is a small German-speaking minority, dating from a period of Austrian control in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The 1830 revolution was in large part dictated by Walloon dissatisfaction with rule by the Dutch, and frictiorl between Flemish and Walloons was not diminished by independence. The minority Frenchspeaking community dominated the majority Dutch-speaking population economically and politically, and the first linguistic reforms aimed at establishing at least legal equality between Dutch and French were not adopted until the 1930s. Tensions continued, particularly in the area of education. In the early 1960s, a complaint was filed before the European Commission of Human Rights by French-speaking parents alleging that the effective denial of French-language instruction to their children violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The complaint eventually was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which in 1968 found that the challenged statute, insofar as it prevented certain children from having access to French language schools near Brussels on the basis of Chapter 18 Other Situations of Interest Belgium HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Belgium became an independent state in 1830, following earlier attachment to Holland and France and unification with Holland in 1815 as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. After declaring its independence , Belgium was recognized by the major European powers as an independent and "perpetually neutral" state. Belgium has been home to at least two distinct ethnic groups since the sixteenth century: the Dutch-speaking, Protestant, Flemish community in the north, and the French-speaking, Catholic, Walloon community in the south. In addition, there is a small German-speaking minority, dating from a period of Austrian control in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The 1830 revolution was in large part dictated by Walloon dissatisfaction with rule by the Dutch, and friction between Flemish and Walloons was not diminished by independence. The minority Frenchspeaking community dominated the majority Dutch-speaking population economically and politically, and the first linguistic reforms aimed at establishing at least legal equality between Dutch and French were not adopted until the 1930s. Tensions continued, particularly in the area of education. In the early 1960s, a complaint was filed before the European Commission of Human Rights by French-speaking parents alleging that the effective denial of French-language instruction to their children violated the European Convention on Human Rights. The complaint eventually was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which in 1968 found that the challenged statute, insofar as it prevented certain children from having access to French language schools near Brussels on the basis of 408 Other Autonomous Arrangements their parents' residence, did violate the C~nvention."'~~ The expansion of French-speaking university faculties into Flemish areas and resultant rioting in Flanders led to the resignation of the Flemish members of the Belgian cabinet in 1968. A declaration of intent to revise the constitution was proclaimed following the fall of the government in 1968, and the newly elected parliament reconvened as a Constituent Assembly to propose the revisions . In 1970, agreement was reached on a series of amendments which attempted to recognize and safeguard the integrity of the three cultural communities in Belgium, the Flemish, Walloon, and German. The universities of Brussels and Louvain were divided along linguistic lines, and three linguistic regions were recognized: the French-speaking Walloon region, the Dutch-speaking Flemish region, and the bilingual (Dutch and French) region of Brussels. Members of parliament were divided into Dutch- and French-speaking groups, which constituted "cultural councils" with certain powers to deal with cultural, educational, and other matters as set forth in the constitution and in subsequent enabling legislation. The general provisions of the 1970 constitutional amendments left the details of regionalization to be determined by subsequent legislation, and successive governments have found it difficult to reconcile the demands by Walloons for full regional status for Brussels (primarily French-speaking though located in the Flemish region) with Flemish fears that loss of the capital would...

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