Modern Brussels is now a complex, thriving city of just over one million people – with almost one third of them from outside the country.

The city was at the heart of the uprising 175 years ago that won Belgium its freedom from the Dutch, and in the wake of that the capital grew in stature – especially in the latter half of the 20th century. This is due in no small part to the fact that many of the European Union’s institutions are based in the city.

The EU’s enlargement and growing influence worldwide has led to an influx of people from all areas of Europe (ten new countries joined the Union in 2004) as well as from around the world, as big businesses have set up their offices here. Brussels is now truly a major hub for business and international politics.

POLITICS

Belgium has a monarchy – the current king is Albert II, and he and his family are just about the only universally loved institution in the entire country. Politics is a complex matter in this land of only ten million souls, with the French speakers constantly falling out with the Flemish speakers and vice-versa. Currently, the young and dynamic prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, leads an uneasy coalition. He is a Flemish liberal who is striving to give his country a serious global presence. But the in-fighting between the two camps, over language, resources and more, isn’t helping.

RELIGION

There is a big division between church and state in what is predominantly a Catholic country, as was proven when Belgium – among others – refused to countenance a direct mention of “God” in the preamble to the ill-fated European Constitutional Treaty. This was despite opposition from senior church leaders, most notably the late Pope. Having said that, Belgium has several more national holidays than, say, the UK and these extra days off are mostly Catholic saint’s days. The many churches of Brussels pay homage to the fact that religion was, at least once, a bedrock of the community.

ECONOMY

Belgium is big on well-developed private enterprise, thanks in part to its location between the Netherlands, France and Germany, while being just across the North Sea from the UK. The transport network is excellent with industry being concentrated mainly in the Flemish north. Verhofstadt and his “Rainbow Coalition” are trying to even up the balance by encouraging investment in the less-wealthy Wallonian south.

Belgium is lacking in natural resources and relies on imports of raw materials, leaving it vulnerable to world markets, although joining the euro has arguably helped to steady the ship.

POPULATION

The population in Brussels is around 1.1 million, with some 300,000 having been “imported”, either as migrant communities or as expatriates working in the EU institutions and in big business. 25,000 people work in the institutions alone.

More than half of the 300,000 foreigners are drawn from other EU member states, the majority coming from France, Italy, Spain, and Greece.

Although French has traditionally been used as the common language in Brussels (although, officially, it is bi-lingual with Flemish), with the influx of so many foreigners English has started to make a major impact. With the ten new, mainly eastern European member states, the lingua franca, in the institutions at least, is now English – much to the disgust of the French, of course.