About Belgium

By 1993 Belgium has been tranformed from a unitary state into a federation comprising 3 regions and 3 cultural communities with their own languages. Both the regions of Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels and the Flemish, Francophone, and German communities have been assigned distinct powers by the constitution. While the regions were primarily accorded responsibility for economic affairs, the cultural communities have responsibilities for education, cultural affairs, health and social welfare.

Provisions have been made for setting up both elected regional and cultural councils.

Each of the Felmish and Francophone communities also includes the community's members in the bilingual Brussels region. Some simplification has been achieved in the case of Flanders, where the regional council has effectively been merged with the Flemish cultural council. The 5 councils are all unicameral.