User:StacyB/Belgium

The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in western Europe between France and the Netherlands, and bordering the North Sea, which hosts the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, as well as several other international organizations. There is significant linguistic divide in Belgium between Dutch-speakers, who are mostly Flemish French-speakers, who are mostly Walloons. The third largest linguistic group is that of German-speakers, though they are comparatively much smaller than the other two. To broadly generalise, the Dutch-speakers are concentrated in Flanders in the North, the French in the southern region of Wallonia and the German-speakers occupy a sizeable German-speaking community exists in eastern Wallonia. This diversity is reflected in Belgium's bafflingly complex system of government.

History
Belgium gained its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, though it has been occupied since that date. The Third Reich occupied the country during both World War I World War II. This history of conflict has earned Belgium the nickname 'the battleground of Europe'. The country has prospered in the past half century as a modern, technologically advanced European state. It is a member state of both the European Union and NATO. Tensions between the Dutch-speaking Flemings of the north and the French-speaking Walloons of the south have led in recent years to constitutional amendments granting these regions formal recognition and autonomy. This is largely what makes Belgian politics so damned confusing.

Politics
The politics of Belgium takes place in a framework of a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy. Sorry, but making Belgian politics sound simple is nigh impossible. Belgium has a king, currently Albert II, as its head of state and Prime Minister, currently Yves Leterme, as head of government. Most political power in Belgium is organised around the need to represent the main cultural and political regions of the country. The main political parties of Belgium are now split into distinct representing their own communities' interests, as well as defending their platform ideologies. There are some newer parties, such as the Greens and a number of far-right and nationalists parties which have emerged, mostly in the Flanders region. Majority rule is often superseded by a de facto confederal decision making process where the minority (the French-speakers) enjoy important protections through specialty majorities (2/3 overall and majority in each of the 2 main communities). It is considered a possibility that Flanders may secede from the state in the not-to-distant future.

Environmental Issues
Due to population density and location in the centre of western Europe, Belgium faces serious environmental problems, but the main reason can be seen from the fact that even wikipedia have judged their political measures to be 'inadequate'. Causes cited for Belgium's environmental problems include 'human activities: urbanization, dense transportation network, industry, extensive animal breeding and crop cultivation', as well as air and water pollution. An environmental report which examined 122 countries in 2003 suggested Belgian natural waters (rivers and groundwater) to have the lowest water quality of any of the countries studied. This is despite Belgium being party to a not insignificant amount of international agreements regarding the environment. Belgium has the lowest environmental rating of any EU country. However, it was only 39th out of a total of 133 countries studied.