How did the Belgian leaders solve the problems of regional differences and cultural diversities?
The Belgian leaders recognized the existence of regional differences and cultural diversities. They amended their constitution four times between 1970 to 1993, so as to work out an arrangement that would enable everyone to live together within the same country. The arrangement is very innovative. Some important elements of the Belgian model is a follows: (a) Constitution prescribes that the number of Dutch and French-speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government. Some special laws require the support of majority of members from each linguistic group. Thus, no single community can make decisions unilaterally.(b) Many powers of the central government have been given to state governments for the two regions of the country. The state governments are not subordinate to the central goverment. (c) Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation. The French-speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch-speaking community has accepted equal representation in the central government. (d) Apart from the central and the state government there is a third kind of government. This ‘community government7 is elected by people belonging to one language community Dutch, French and German-speaking- no matter where they live. This government has the power regarding cultural, educational and language-related issues
