Language/French/Culture/Belgium-Timeline

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Timeline of Belgium
Belgium-Timeline-PolyglotClub.png
  • 1789: the south of the former Spanish Netherlands, passed 70 years earlier under the authority of the Habsburgs of Austria, revolts and gains independence for a few months under the name of United Belgian States.
  • 1794-1815: French occupation.
  • 1815-1830: At the Congress of Vienna, the territories of the future Belgium are united with those of the Netherlands to form a buffer state in the north of France led by Guillaume d'Orange.
  • 1830: the revolution leads to the separation of North and South; proclamation of the independence and neutrality of Belgium, with Leopold of Saxe-Coburg as sovereign. French, the language of the elite, is chosen as the official language.
  • 1865-1909: industrial boom; colonial establishment in Central Africa.
  • 1898: the law of Vriendt-Coremans gives Dutch the rank of “official language” alongside French.
  • 1909: Leopold II bequeaths the Congo, his personal property, to Belgium.
  • 191 4-18: Belgium is occupied by Germany during the war.
  • 1920: end of neutrality and signature of a military aid agreement with France.
  • 193 0: creation of the first Flemish-speaking university in Ghent.
  • 1932: a law creates three linguistic regions: "the Dutch-speaking region", "the French-speaking region" and "the bilingual region made up of the municipalities of the Brussels agglomeration".
  • 1940-44: German occupation.
  • 1948: creation of the Benelux, customs union between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which will expand into an economic union in 1958.
  • 1949: Belgium is one of the founding members of NATO.
  • 1951: Leopold III, who is accused of having signed the capitulation and having remained in Belgium under the occupation, abdicates in favor of his son Baudouin.
  • 1957: signature of the Rome agreements which create the Common Market, of which Belgium is one of the founding members.
  • 1958: the question of financing Catholic education is settled by a compromise, the Pacte scolaire.
  • 1960: independence of the Congo, followed in 1962 by that of Rwanda and Burundi.
  • 1961: start of the linguistic quarrel in the Flemish areas which proclaim the exclusion of French.
  • 1963: a law definitively fixes the linguistic border between Flanders and Wallonia, but it provides for "accommodations" for Flemings and Walloons residing in mixed municipalities called "municipalities with facilities".
  • 1968: case of the University of Louvain. The French-speaking part is "expelled" from this Flemish city to Walloon Brabant.
  • 1970: creation of three "communities", French, Flemish and German-speaking, autonomous political communities competent in particular in matters of education and culture.
  • 1972: the Social-Christian party splits into a Flemish party and a Walloon party, inaugurating the split of the other parties.
  • 1980: a new revision of the Constitution extends the powers of the Communities.
  • 1989: adoption of the Brussels-capital statute, on the territory of 19 municipalities.
  • 1993: a constitutional revision makes Belgium a federal state with three regions: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels with decentralized powers.
  • Albert II succeeds his brother Baudouin.
  • Adoption of a law of universal jurisdiction that allows people guilty of genocide or crimes against humanity to be brought to justice, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators and victims and the place where these crimes were committed. A world first.
  • 1995: Agusta scandal, bribes paid on the occasion of helicopter purchases.
  • 1996: white march, gigantic demonstration at the call of parents of victims of pedophile Marc Dutroux who denounce the incompetence of justice and the police in this affair.
  • 1999: scandal of the contamination of poultry by dioxin.
  • Bitter defeat of the ruling coalition in federal and regional elections; breakthrough by environmentalists and the Vlaams Blok (Flemish Bloc), a Flemish far-right party. Creation of a Rainbow coalition (socialist, green and liberal) led by the liberal Guy Verhofstadt.
  • November 7, 2001: the national airline Sabena is put into compulsory liquidation.
  • May 16, 2002: Belgium becomes the second country in the world, after the Netherlands, to legalize euthanasia with conditions.
  • 2003
  • January 30: Belgium is the second country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage.
  • January 31: the government passes a law providing for the closure of seven nuclear power plants between 2014 and 2025.
  • June: the United States threatens to relocate the NATO headquarters installed in Belgium, after the filing of a complaint, within the framework of the law of universal jurisdiction, against several American leaders by the Iraqi victims of an American bombardment in Baghdad, in 1991.
  • May 18: the outgoing coalition of Socialists and Liberals led by Guy Verhofstadt wins legislative elections. The Vlaams Blok goes from 15 to 18 seats (out of a total of 150).
  • August 1: repeal of the law on universal jurisdiction. Only Belgians or persons residing in Belgium for more than three years at the date of the crime will be able to lodge a complaint.
  • 2004
  • February 19: the right to vote is granted to non-European foreigners during municipal elections.
  • June 22: at the end of his trial, which began in March, the pedophile Marc Dutroux is sentenced to life imprisonment.
  • November: condemned for racism by the Court of Cassation, the Vlaams Blok is dissolved and then reconstituted under the name of Vlaams Belang (“Flemish interest”).
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  • 2005
  • October: the social security and pension reform project causes two days of general strike.
  • December 2: passage of a law authorizing adoption by homosexual couples.
  • September 7, 2006: the authorities dismantle a small neo-Nazi group infiltrated into the army which planned attacks to "destabilize the basic structures of the Belgian state".
  • 2007
  • June 10: legislative elections; after eight years in the opposition, the Christian Democrats (CD&V) under the leadership of Yves Leterme won the elections with 31% of the vote. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's Liberals (VLD) only collect 18.6%.
  • July 15: tasked with forming the federal government after the June elections, Yves Leterme fails due to disagreements between the four parties (Liberals and Christian Democrats, Flemish and Walloons) in the coalition.
  • November 7: adoption by Dutch-speaking deputies of a bill splitting the electoral district of Bruxelles-Hal-Vilvorde into three districts, depriving the French-speaking minority of this Dutch-speaking periphery of Brussels of the right to vote for the lists of their community.
  • December 21: after six months of political crisis, Guy Verhofstadt remains at the head of the transitional government.
  • 2008
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  • February 25: agreement between the main Flemish and French-speaking parties on the reform of the State proposed by a committee of wise men, responsible for thinking about the way out of the political crisis that the country has been going through since the elections of June 2007. It provides for the transfer to the regions (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels), of competences previously falling under the central state.
  • March 20: formation of a coalition government made up of two Flemish and three French-speaking parties, ranging from liberals to socialists, led by Flemish Christian Democratic Prime Minister Yves Leterme.
  • July 15: Yves Leterme presents his resignation, for lack of agreement with the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking parties on the reform of the institutions, the sharing of powers between the federal state and the regions, and on the Brussels Hal Vilvorde district. The king refuses his resignation.
  • September-October: rescue of the Belgian-Dutch Fortis and Franco-Belgian Dexia banks.
  • October: Belgium is largely paralyzed by a strike declared by three unions in the country, in defense of purchasing power.
  • December 19: resignation of Yves Leterme, accused of having pressured the justice system to validate his plan to rescue the Fortis bank. A year later, official investigations will clear him.
  • December 28: Herman Van Rompuy, member of the Flemish Christian Democratic Party (CDV), is appointed Prime Minister. 
  • 2009
  • June 7: the regional and European elections confirm the divide between the Flemings, who vote mostly on the right, and Walloons who maintain the Socialist Party in first place in their region.
  • November 19: Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, who has been able to ease community tensions, is appointed President of the European Council.
  • November 24: Former Flemish Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene is appointed mediator of community affairs by the king.
  • November 25: Yves Leterme becomes Prime Minister again after the resignation of the government of Herman Van Rompuy.
  • 2010
  • March 29: more than 40% of Flemings are now in favor of the idea of ​​independence for their region according to the "political barometer" of the daily La Libre Belgique. The New Flemish Alliance (NVA, center-right) collects 17.9% of the voting intentions, the xenophobic extreme right of Vlaams Belang, 17.3%, and the populists of the Dedecker List, 5.5.
  • April 19: resumption of institutional negotiations, in particular concerning the linguistic rights of French speakers in the bilingual district of "Bruxelles-Hal-Vilvorde" (BHV). The mediator Jean-Luc Dehaene proposes to suppress the rights of French speakers living in the suburbs of Brussels, in Flanders, except in a few municipalities where they would on the contrary be definitively guaranteed.
  • April 20: Jean-Luc Dehaene who declares his mission accomplished gives up his mission as mediator.
  • April 22: Prime Minister Yves Leterme resigns his government after the decision of the Flemish liberals of the Open VLD to leave the majority, in pretext for stalling negotiations. On the same day, activists from Vlaams Belang stirred up a stir by singing the Flemish anthem, "Vlaamse Leeuw" in the Chamber of Deputies.
  • April 24: King Albert II entrusts the Minister of Finance, Didier Reynders, with relaunching negotiations in order to get the country out of the crisis. The Flemish liberals give a new deadline for negotiations, until April 29.
  • April 29: Belgium becomes the first Western country to ban the wearing of the full Islamic veil in all public spaces.
  • June 13: the early general elections lead to a triumph for the Flemish separatists of the NV-A.
  • June 17: King Albert II entrusts Bart De Wever, president of NV-A, with the task of drafting the new ministerial coalition.
  • July 8: French-speaking socialist Elio Di Rupo is charged by the king with a government "pre-training" mission. He takes over from Bart de Wever who threw in the towel.
  • September 4: Elio di Rupo in turn gives up trying to form a government. The king entrusted two new mediators with the relaunch of negotiations.
  • September 10: an official report which lists the testimonies of victims of sexual abuse attributed to priests destabilizes the Belgian church, accused of having wanted to cover up the scandal.

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