Municipalities :each municipality has a Dutch and a French name, given in that order. There is not always a difference.

Anderlecht, Brussel - Bruxelles, Elsene - Ixelles, Etterbeek, Evere, Ganshoren, Jette, Koekelberg, Oudergem - Auderghem, Schaarbeek - Schaerbeek, Sint-Agatha-Berchem - Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Sint-Gillis - Saint-Gilles, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek - Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Sint-Joost-ten-Node - Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe - Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Sint-Pieters-Woluwe - Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Ukkel - Uccle, Vorst - Forest, Watermaal-Bosvoorde - Watermael-Boitsfort

Minister-President: Charles Picqué

Geographical characteristics

Area :Total 161.382 km² ;Land N/A km² ;Water N/A km² ;Population:Total (2005) 1,006,749 ;Density 6,238.29/km²

The Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, German: Region Brüssel-Hauptstadt) or short Brussels Region (French: Région Bruxelloise, Dutch: Brussels Gewest) is one of the three regions of Belgium. Brussels citizens belonging to the French-speaking French Community of Belgium or to the Flemish Community, or often to one of the many communities of migrant and EU-nationals. Both French and Dutch are official languages in Brussels; all public services are bilingual.

History

The Belgian Constitution announced the creation of three regions since the constitutional reform of 24 December 1970, when an article 107quater (the current art. 3) was inserted, stating that "Belgium is made up of three regions: The Flemish region, the Walloon region and the Brussels region." However, only after the adoption the special (constitutional) law of 12 January 1989, the Region came into existence, nine years later than the Flemish and the Walloon region.

Demographics

On January 1, 2005, the region had a population of 1,006,749 for 161.382 km² which gives a population density of 6,238.29 inhabitants per km².

Population 

At the last Belgian census in 1991, there were 63.7% inhabitants in Brussels-Capital Region who answered they were Belgian citizens, born as such in Belgium. However, there have been numerous individual or familial migrations towards Brussels since the end of the XVIIIth century, including political refugees (Karl Marx, Victor Hugo, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Léon Daudet e.g.) from neighbouring or more distanced countries as well as labour migrants, former foreign students or expats, and many Belgian families in Brussels can tell at least a foreign grandparent.

Brussels and its suburbs evolved from uniligual Dutch-speaking towns to a billingual metropole, but at the moment the dominant language is French and the ethnic and national self-identification of French-Speaking Bruxellois can vary from Belgian, Francophone Belgian, Bruxellois (like the Memeller in interwar ethnic censuses in Memel), Walloon (for people who migrated from the Wallonia Region at an adult age), but also all the national origins: people tend to call themselves Moroccans or Turks rather than an American-style hyphenated version. The original Dutch dialect of Brussels (Brussels) still survives among the local Flemings; it's a form of Brabantic (the variant of Dutch spoken in the ancient Duchy of Brabant) with many loanwords from French.

The migrant communities, as well as rapidly growing communities of EU-nationals from other EU-member states, speak Moroccan dialectal Arabic, Turkish, Spanish (most Spaniards came from the Asturias, a minority from Andalusia and some from Catalonia and the Basque country), Italian, Polish, Rif Berber, English and other languages, including those of every EU-member state in the expat communities. The degree of linguistic integration varies widely within each migrant group.

Among all major migrants groups from outside the EU, a majority of the permanent residents have acquired the Belgian nationality. Since the 2000 Nationality Law (snel-Belgwet or Quickly-Belgian law in Dutch), knowledge (even basic) of a Belgian national language is no longer compulsory and there are thus e.g. Belgian Turks who can't speak or understand French or Dutch.

Although historically (since the Counter-Reformation persecution and expulsion of Protestants by the Spaniards in the XVIthe century) Roman Catholic, most people in Brussels are non-practicing. About 10% of the population regularly attends church services. Among the religions, Roman Catholicism is in the majority, followed by a large minority of Muslims and by atheists, agnosticists and other Humanists which are also recognised as a philosophical group, Vrijzinnig-Laïcité (an apporoxime translation would be secularists or free thinkers), of which Brussels houses several key organisations. Other (recognised) religions (Protestantism, Anglicanism, Orthodoxy and Judaism) are practised by much smaller groups in Brussels. recognized religions and Laïcité enjoy public funding and school courses: every pupil in an official school from 6 years old to 18 must choose 2 hours per week of compulsory religion- or Laïcité-inspired morals.

 

Institutions

Because of how the federalisation was handled in Belgium, the public institutions in Brussels offer a bewildering complexity. The complexity is more apparent in the lawbooks than in the facts, since the members of the Brussels Parliament and Government also act in other capacities, e.g. as members of the council of the Brussels agglomeration or the community commissions. One distinguishes:

The region, with a regional parliament of 89 members (72 French-speaking, 17 Dutch-speaking, parties are organised on a linguistic basis), plus a regional government, consisting of an officially linguistically neutral, but in practice French-speaking minister-president, two French-speaking and two Dutch-speaking ministers, one Dutch-speaking secretary of state and two French-speaking secretaries of state. This parliament can enact ordinances (Dutch: ordonnanties, French: ordonnances), which have equal status as a national legislative act.

The agglomeration, with a council and a board, with the same membership as the organs of the Brussels Region. This is a decentralised administrative public body, assuming competences which elsewhere in Belgium are exercised by municipalities or provinces (fire brigade, waste disposal). The by-laws enacted by it do not have the status of a legislative act.

A bi-communitarian public authority, Common Community Commission (Dutch: Gemeenschappelijke Gemeenschapscommissie, GGC, French: Commission communautaire commune, COCOM), with a United Assembly (i.e. the members of the regional parliament) and a United Board (the ministers - not the secretaries of state - of the region, with the minister-president not having the right to vote). This Commission has two capacities: it is a decentralised administrative public body, responsible for implementing cultural policies of common interest. It can give subsidies and enact by-laws. In another capacity it can also enact ordinances, which have equal status as a national legislative act, in the field of the welfare competencies of the communities: in the Brussels Capital Region, both the French Community and the Flemish Community can exercise competencies in the field of welfare, but only in regard to institutions that are unilingual (e.g. a private French-speaking retirement home or the Dutch-speaking hospital of the VUB). The Common Community Commission is competent for policies aiming directly at private persons or at bilingual institutions (e.g. the centra for social welfare of the 19 municipalities). Its ordinances have to be enacted with a majority in both linguistic groups. Failing such a majority, a new vote can be held, where a majority of at least one third in each linguistic group is sufficient.

There are 2 community-specific public authorities, Flemish Community Commission (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, VGC) for the Flemings in Brussels, and the French Community Commission (French: Commission communautaire française or COCOF), with an assembly (i.e. the members of parliament of the linguistic group) and a board (the ministers and secretaries of state of the linguistic group). These commissions implement policies of the Flemish Community and the French Community in the Brussels Capital Region.

The French Community Commission has also another capacity: some legislative competencies of the French Community have been devolved to the Walloon Region (for the French language area of Belgium) and to the French Community Commission (for the bilingual language area) (procedure contained in art. 138 of the Belgian Constitution). The Flemish Community didn't do so, it even merged the Flemish Region into the Flemish Community (procedure in art. 137 of the Belgian Constitution) - this has to do with different conceptions in the two communities, one focussing more on the communities and the other more on the regions, causing an asymmetrical federalism. Because of this devolution, the

Also the federal state, the French Community and the Flemish Community exercise competencies on the territory of the region. 19 of the 72 French-speaking members of the Brussels Parliament are also members of the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium, and until 2004 this was also the case for 6 Dutch-speaking members, who were at the same time members of the Flemish Parliament. Now, people voting for a Flemish party have to vote separately for 6 directly elected members of the Flemish Parliament.

Due to the multiple capacities of single members of parliament, there are parliamentarians who are at the same member of the Brussels Parliament, member of the Assembly of the Common Community Commission, member of the Assembly of the French Community Commission, member of the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium and "community senator" in the Belgian Senate. At the moment, this is the case for Mr. François Roelants du Vivier (for the Mouvement Réformateur), Mrs. Amina Derbaki Sbaï (since june 2004 for the Parti Socialiste, but beforehand, since 2003, for the Mouvement Réformateur) and Mrs Sfia Bouarfa (since 2001 for the Parti Socialiste).