The Egmont pact (Dutch: Egmontpact, French: Pacte d'Egmont, German: Egmont-Pakt) of 1977 is an agreement on the reform of Belgium into a federal state and on the relations between the linguistic communities in the country. The pact was not carried out due to the demission of the government, but important elements of the pact were used in later Belgian state reforms. For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ...

The pact was agreed in 1977 between the majority parties of de government Tindemans IV, which was a coalition between CVP, PSC, BSP-PSB, Volksunie and FDF. It was named after the Egmont Palace in Brussels, where the negotiations took place. Leo Tindemans, born in Zwijndrecht on 16 April 1922, was prime minister (CVP) of six Belgian governments, from 25 April 1974 to 20 October 1978. ... Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) (Christian Democratic and Flemish) is a political party in Belgium, formerly called Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP) (Christian Peoples Party). ... The Humanist Democratic Centre (French: Centre Démocrate Humaniste or CDH) is a centrist, christian-democrat, Belgian French-speaking political party. ... Since the nineteen seventies, Belgium has (at least) two socialist parties: Francophone Socialist Party Flemish Socialist Party Categories: ... The Democratic Front of the Francophones (Front Démocratique des Francophones, or FDF), is a Brussels French-speaking Belgian political party. ... Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Brussels City Hall Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels (Dutch: Brussel, pronounced ; French: Bruxelles, pronounced in Belgian French and often by non-Belgian speakers of French; German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium, the...

The pact was supplemented with the "Stuyvenberg agreement" later the same year. Both would be called the "Community pact".

Content

The Egmont pact covered agreements on a number of various topics :

• The establishment of autonomous councils and executives (a government) for the three communities in Belgium (which followed the establishment of the three Cultural Communities in 1970 - Flemish, French and German), next to the establishment of three Regions (Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia), also with autonomous councils and their own executives.
• An agreement on the linguistic relations in Brussels and the periphery, with a.o. the inscription right in Brussels for French speakers from 14 Dutch speaking communes around Brussels. This would give them linguistic facilities and the right to vote in Brussels.
• A reform of the country's institutions.

Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen) has several main meanings: the social, cultural and linguistical, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; some prefer to call this the Flemish community (others refer to this as the Flemish nation) which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians... Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Brussels City Hall Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels (Dutch: Brussel, pronounced ; French: Bruxelles, pronounced in Belgian French and often by non-Belgian speakers of French; German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium, the... Wallonia (French: Wallonie, German: Wallonien, Walloon: Walonreye, Dutch: Wallonië) or the Walloon Region (French: Région Wallonne, Dutch: Waals Gewest) is the predominantly French-speaking region that constitutes one of the three federal regions of Belgium, with its capital at Namur. ... The municipalities with linguistic facilities or municipalities with facilities (Dutch: faciliteitengemeenten, French: communes à facilités) are Belgian municipalities with special law provisions to protect rights of their (historic) linguistic minorities. ...

Failure

The agreement was not put into practice, because there was an immediate protest from the Flemish side. Especially the points on Brussels, where the institutional equality between French and Dutch speakers' communities was ended, were unacceptable for a lot of Flemings. The Flemish movement (Dutch: Vlaamse Beweging) is a popular term used to describe the political movement for greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language in Flanders, and for protection of the Flemish culture. ...

The advice on the law, that would have put the Egmont pact in practice, on a number of points was heavily criticised by the Council of State. The resistance against the pact rose within the CVP, and more and more MP's demanded new negotiations. These were refused by the French speaking parties. The CVP remained divided. On October 11, 1978, in an emotional speech, PM Leo Tindemans unexpectedly announced the demission of his government. Council of State (Dutch: Raad van State, French: Conseil dÉtat), in Belgium, is an organ of the Belgian government. ... Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) (Christian Democratic and Flemish) is a political party in Belgium, formerly called Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP) (Christian Peoples Party). ... Leo Tindemans, born in Zwijndrecht on 16 April 1922, was prime minister (CVP) of six Belgian governments, from 25 April 1974 to 20 October 1978. ...

Consequences

The Egmont crisis had consequences for some Belgian parties. The radical right wing from the Volksunie separated itself, leading to the creation of the far right Vlaams Blok political party. The last unitary party in Belgium, the socialist BSP-PSB, was split into a French-speaking and a Dutch-speaking party. Volksunie was a Belgian political party. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into far right. ... Note that Flemish Block turned themselves into Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) since their condamnation in 2004 The Flemish Block (Dutch: Vlaams Blok) was a Flemish far-right nationalist political party which rejects the state of Belgium, calling for political independence for the Flemish half of the country. ... Since the nineteen seventies, Belgium has (at least) two socialist parties: Francophone Socialist Party Flemish Socialist Party Categories: ... The Parti Socialiste or PS of Belgium is a French-speaking social democratic political party. ... Socialist Party - Different or Social Progressive Alternative (Dutch: Socialistische Partij - Anders or Sociaal Progressief Alternatief (sp. ...

Although the Egmont pact itself failed, it was an important exercise towards the federalisation of Belgium. A large part of the goals in the Egmont pact today are carried out (see Communities, regions and provinces of Belgium). Other points were not realised, like the division of the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde or the inscription right in Brussels for French speakers from the Brussels periphery. Belgium is a federal state and is composed of three communities, three regions, and four linguistic regions. ... Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (often abbreviated as BHV) is a contentious Belgian electoral district in the center of the country that encompasses both the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital region as well as an officially unilingual Dutch-speaking area, Halle-Vilvoorde, around it. ...

References

Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Dutch-language wikipedia article (retrieved 7 August 2006).