THE BELGIAN ARMED FORCES

Legal Memorandum











May 2012


THE BELGIAN ARMED FORCES

Executive Summary

The purpose of this memorandum is to examine the structure of the armed
forces of Belgium, with particular emphasis on the distribution of command
responsibilities and accommodation of Belgiums cultural and linguistic diversity.
The Belgian Armed Forces is the official state military of Belgium, consisting of
separate land, naval, air, and medical components. The military comes exclusively
under the jurisdiction of the state. The Ministry of Defense controls the Belgian
Armed Forces and formulates national defense policy, though the Constitution of
Belgium vests in the King the authority to issue military orders and declare war.

Since the conclusion of the Cold War, Belgium has aimed to modernize its
armed forces. The reforms are designed to reduce and consolidate the Armed
Forces, leaving the remaining units more robust and better staffed. As a leading
advocate of European military cooperation, Belgium intends to transform its
military into a smaller but reliable and flexible partner in multinational initiatives
under the guidance of the United Nations, NATO, or the European Union.

Although Belgiums dense population is sharply divided on linguistic and
cultural grounds, the Belgian Armed Forces has attempted to remain neutral and
accommodate Belgiums diversity amid rising political tensions between the
Walloon and Flemish regions. First, military and civilian personnel may retain
their native language during service, and all officers must speak both French and
Dutch. Second, the military enforces a quota system at all levels of its hierarchy to
reflect Belgiums demographics. Finally, in accordance with its modernization
plan, the Belgian Armed Forces has completed a near-total transformation away
from unilingual units to integrated bilingual units. Furthermore, the military
increasingly emphasizes language and cultural integration in the training process.

In practice, however, the Belgian Armed Forces has not entirely avoided the
political tension between Flanders and Wallonia. Disputes and criticism have
arisen regarding the numbers of Flemish and Walloon officers and the regional
allocation of military assets. Of the thirty-three present generals and admirals in
the Belgian Armed Forces, twenty-three are from the Flemish region.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of Purpose 1

Overview of the Belgian Armed Forces 1

Transformation of the Belgian Armed Forces 2

Diversity in the Belgian Armed Forces 3
Accommodating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity 3
Inter-Group Friction in the Armed Forces 4

Conclusion 6


1

THE BELGIAN ARMED FORCES

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this memorandum is to examine the structure of the Armed
Forces of Belgium, with particular emphasis on the distribution of command
responsibilities and efforts by the Armed Forces to accommodate Belgiums
cultural and linguistic diversity.

Overview of the Belgian Armed Forces

The Belgian Armed Forces is the official national military of Belgium, and
comprises land, naval, air, and medical components.
1
The Belgian Armed Forces
consists of approximately 34,156 military personnel and 2,072 civilian personnel.
2

In fiscal year 2010, Belgium allocated approximately 1.12% of its Gross Domestic
Product to military expenditures, which amounted to approximately !3.9 billion.
3

Belgian military personnel are presently stationed or engaging in operations in
Afghanistan, East Africa (piracy operations), Germany, Burundi, Lebanon, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United States.
4


The Ministry of Defense is responsible for controlling the Belgian Armed
Forces and formulating national defense policy.
5
Though the Constitution of
Belgium stipulates that the King may issue military orders and declare war as
Commander-in-Chief,
6
the scope of the Kings military role during a state of war
remains unclear, specifically whether his authority is subordinate to that of the
Ministry of Defense.
7


Over the past forty years, Belgium has repeatedly amended its constitution
to devolve powers from the state government to the Walloon and Flemish regions,
which have gained considerable political autonomy and, in some areas, exclusive

1
Belgian Defence, The Components (2012), available at http://www.mil.be/def/subject/index.asp?LAN=fr&ID=40.
2
European Defense Agency, Defence Data Portal: Belgium in 2010 (2012), available at
http://www.eda.europa.eu/DefenceData/Belgium?DDYear=2010#1.
3
European Defense Agency, Defence Data Portal: Belgium in 2010 (2012).
4
Belgian Defence, Missions (2012), available at http://www.mil.be/ops-trg/subject/index.asp?LAN=fr&ID=932.
5
Harvard University Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, Kingdom of Belgium Ministry of
Defense (2012), available at http://www.hpcrresearch.org/partners/kingdom-belgium-ministry-defense.
6
BELGIAN CONST. art. 114 (1994), available at
http://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/publications/constitution/grondwetEN.pdf.
7
Portal belgium.be: Official Information and Services, The Political Role of the King (2009), available at
http://www.belgium.be/en/about_belgium/government/federal_authorities/king/political_role.

2

decision-making authority.
8
However, the area of military defense remains
exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Belgian federal government. There are no
regional military units or defense forces.

Transformation of the Belgian Armed Forces

Alongside information, diplomacy, and economics, the effective
management of the Armed Forces is a cornerstone of Belgiums national security
policy.
9
Since the conclusion of the Cold War, the Belgian Armed Forces have
undergone a series of structural transformations aimed at modernization,
10
the most
recent beginning in 2010.
11
While the principal military objectives peace and
stability worldwide, and population safety and territorial integrity at home
remain fixed,
12
the Belgian Armed Forces will be reduced in size and consolidated,
leaving the remaining units more robust and better staffed.
13


Belgium is a leading advocate of European military cooperation, and since
the early 1990s has engaged in multinational operations under the United Nations
(UN), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and European Union
(EU) command.
14
An extensive modernization program aims to transform the
military into a smaller but reliable and flexible partner in cooperative European
military initiatives that emphasize integration, collective security, and burden- and
risk-sharing among participating states.
15






8
Robert Mnookin and Alain Verbeke, Persistent Nonviolent Conflict with No Reconciliation: The Flemish and
Walloons in Belgium, 72 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 151, 161 (2009), available at
http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1524&context=lcp.
9
Ministry of National Defense, Defence Turns (2010), available at http://www.mil.be/modnew/index.asp;
Lieutenant Colonel Rudi Verrijt, The Requirements for a Combat Capability of the Air Weapon in 2025, ROYAL
MILITARY ACADEMY (2009), available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/68738111/9/Current-Belgian-defence-policy.
10
Military Education Research Library Network, The Modernisation Plan 2000 2015 of the Belgian Armed Forces
(2000), available at http://merln.ndu.edu/whitepapers.html.
11
Ministry of National Defense, Defence Turns (2010), available at http://www.mil.be/modnew/index.asp.
12
Ministry of National Defense, Defence Turns (2010), available at http://www.mil.be/modnew/index.asp;
Lieutenant Colonel Rudi Verrijt, The Requirements for a Combat Capability of the Air Weapon in 2025, ROYAL
MILITARY ACADEMY (2009), available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/68738111/9/Current-Belgian-defence-policy.
13
Ministry of National Defense, Defence Turns (2010), available at http://www.mil.be/modnew/index.asp.
14
Sven Biscop, Belgian Defence Policy: The Fight Goes On, EGMONT ROYAL INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS, (Dec. 2011), available at http://www.egmontinstitute.be/papers/11/sec-gov/SPB32-BE-
DefencePolicy.pdf.
15
Sven Biscop, Belgian Defence Policy: The Fight Goes On, EGMONT ROYAL INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS, (Dec. 2011).

3

Diversity in the Belgian Armed Forces

The Belgian Armed Forces has sought to maintain distance from disputes
between the Flemish and Walloon populations. Even as the Belgian state has
increasingly devolved powers to Flanders and Wallonia, the Armed Forces has
actively sought to integrate personnel of different backgrounds. Despite these
efforts, tensions between Flemings and Walloons sometimes surface in the
military, particularly with respect to promotions and resource allocation.

Accommodating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity

The Armed Forces of Belgium has attempted to accommodate Belgiums
diversity by: (1) permitting all personnel to use their native language; (2)
enforcing a quota system that ensures proportional representation of the Walloon
and Flemish populations at all levels of the military hierarchy; and (3) integrating
military personnel into bilingual units.
16
The objective has been to balance the
principle of linguistic representation with the military imperatives of efficiency and
readiness.
17


First, a 1938 law, which has been amended several times since entering into
force, permits military personnel to use their native language while serving in the
Belgian Armed Forces.
18
The law and its amendments require that all officers
speak both French and Dutch and address a subordinate in the subordinates native
language.
19


Second, a quota system introduced after World War II ensures that all levels
of the military reflect Belgiums linguistic balance between French and Dutch.
20

Despite Belgiums significant German-speaking population, the sole German-
speaking unit was dismantled in 1995 and its personnel integrated into French-

16
Delphine Resteigne, Philippe Manigart, and Mathias Bonneu, Ethnic Diversity in the Belgian Armed Forces,
ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY 9-10 (2009), available at
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:g1T3serqwegJ:www.rma.ac.be/scgw/downloads/Ethnic_diversity_in
_the_Belgian_armed_forces_Resteigne_et_al_2009.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjD-
4wJDICziv2toajW2LZMtG3G2sRhKAzPj78V8498P3rrrMaboULtyPosKjnD4jNj8UFwsFcKcO5QapV6K8OiOTeF
kwUX7eJKctRyWKWBsUlHh63yiTeWuVz1YdwAsCexTM13&sig=AHIEtbTf4c2_g98JJbOveLwQsQaEakV1Gw.
17
U.S. Marine Corps, Belgium: A Country Study (last visited Feb. 7, 2012), available at
http://www.marines.mil/news/publications/Documents/Belgium%20Study_4.pdf.
18
U.S. Marine Corps, Belgium: A Country Study (last visited Feb. 7, 2012), available at
http://www.marines.mil/news/publications/Documents/Belgium%20Study_4.pdf.
19
J. Soeters and Jan van der Meulen (eds), CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE ARMED FORCES: AN INTERNATIOANAL
COMPARISON, 186 (2007).
20
Delphine Resteigne, Philippe Manigart, and Mathias Bonneu, Ethnic Diversity in the Belgian Armed Forces,
ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY 9-10 (2009).

4

speaking units.
21
In 2012, approximately 55% of Armed Forces personnel speak
Dutch while the remaining 45% speak French.
22
This roughly corresponds to the
Belgian population, which is 60% Flemish and 33% Walloon.
23
Though the
Constitution stipulates that military quotas must be annually renewed by a
parliamentary vote,
24
they have not been significantly modified. By establishing
the quota system, the Armed Forces of Belgium sought to create a military that
reflects broad demographic trends.

Third, since the adoption of the Strategic Modernization Plan in 2000, the
Belgian Armed Forces has completed a near-total shift away from unilingual units
to integrated bilingual units.
25
Though the quota system remains in place, there is
increasing cooperation and unity among military and civilian personnel of different
linguistic backgrounds. Soldiers of different native languages now work together
in Belgian theaters of operations.
26
Recruitment and officer selection occurs in
both French and Dutch, and the selection process emphasizes language (along with
mathematics) as the most important element of the applicant assessment.
27


The Belgian Armed Forces has made fundamental changes to accommodate
the states linguistic and cultural diversity. Flemings and Walloons may retain
their native language during military service, attain promotions in correspondence
to their proportion of the population, and work fluidly among Belgians of all
linguistic backgrounds. These policies have enabled Belgium to simultaneously
consolidate and downsize the Armed Forces.

Inter-Group Friction in the Armed Forces

Despite its efforts to accommodate linguistic and cultural diversity, the
Belgian Armed Forces has not been immune to the present political friction
between the Flemish and Walloon populations. Tensions have arisen with respect

21
J. Soeters and Jan van der Meulen (eds), CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE ARMED FORCES: AN INTERNATIONAL
COMPARISON, 187 (2007).
22
Delphine Resteigne, Philippe Manigart, and Mathias Bonneu, Ethnic Diversity in the Belgian Armed Forces,
ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY 9-10 (2009).
23
BBC, Languages Across Europe (last visited Feb. 10, 2012), available at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_languages/countries/belgium.shtml.
24
BELGIAN CONST. arts. 74, 183 (1994),
http://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/publications/constitution/grondwetEN.pdf.
25
J. Soeters and Jan van der Meulen (eds), CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE ARMED FORCES: AN INTERNATIONAL
COMPARISON, 186-87 (2007).
26
J. Soeters and Jan van der Meulen (eds), CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE ARMED FORCES: AN INTERNATIOANL
COMPARISON, 187 (2007).
27
Y.A. Devriendt, The Officer Selection in the Belgian Armed Forces, Centre for Recruitment and Selection, 16-1
(Nov. 1999), available at http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFulltext/RTO/MP/RTO-MP-055///MP-055-16.pdf.

5

to the geographic distribution of military resources and the quota system for
military personnel.

The location of Belgian military facilities has generated concerns among
Walloons. While land component bases are evenly distributed throughout the
state,
28
all naval component bases and nearly all air component bases are located in
Flanders.
29
Some Walloons fear that in the event of a conflict between the two
regions, they would be disadvantaged by the relative lack of military assets in
Wallonia.

The quota system has also generated discontent. The requirement of
proportional representation represents a departure from the militarys historic bias,
especially among officers, towards the French language.
30
While other ministries
have quota systems, these aim for total parity between Dutch- and French-speaking
personnel.
31
Because Dutch speakers outnumber Francophones, total parity
benefits French-speakers by offering equal representation within the civil service.
32

Conversely, the Belgian Armed Forces proportional representation quota results in
greater numbers of Flemish-speakers.

Some military leaders have publicly complained that the reforms privilege
certain groups. When the only German-speaking unit was dissolved in 1995,
incoming Defense Minister Jean-Pol Poncelet claimed that the integration of
German speakers into Francophone units amounted to discrimination against
German speakers.
33
In another incident, a senior Walloon officer accused the
Armed Forces of placing Flemings in all of the top-ranking military positions.
34
Of
the thirty-three current generals and admirals in the Belgian Armed Forces, twenty-
three come from the Flanders.
35
He further blamed the Flemishization of the

28
Belgian Defence, Units of the Land Component (2012), available at
http://www.mil.be/armycomp/subject/index.asp?LAN=fr&ID=1961.
29
Belgian Defence, Units of the Naval Component (2012).
30
U.S. Marine Corps, Belgium: A Country Study (last visited Feb. 7, 2012), available at
http://www.marines.mil/news/publications/Documents/Belgium%20Study_4.pdf.
31
UN Division of Public Administration and Development Management, Kingdom of Belgium: Public
Administration Country Profile, 14 (Mar. 2006), available at
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan023303.pdf.
32
UN Division of Public Administration and Development Management, Kingdom of Belgium: Public
Administration Country Profile, 14 (Mar. 2006).
33
J. Soeters and Jan van der Meulen (eds), CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE ARMED FORCES: AN INTERNATIONAL
COMPARISON, 187 (2007).
34
FLANDERS NEWS, Dominant Flemish Position in Belgian Army (Oct. 17, 2010), available at
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/1.885491.
35
Slobodan Lekic, Belgian Army Commander Denies Military Cuts Favour Dutch-Speaking Region, ASSOCIATED
PRESS (Oct. 17, 2010), available at http://www.news1130.com/news/world/article/116163--belgian-army-
commander-defends-military-cuts-denies-they-favour-flemish-province.

6

military for the decision to relocate the Florennes air base from Wallonia to
Flanders.
36


Public denunciations of this type by senior officers are extremely rare in
Belgium, where the Armed Forces have attempted to remain neutral throughout
Belgiums political crises.
37
Such statements may indicate that tensions between
the two regions are beginning to infiltrate the military.
38


Conclusion

Belgium has increasingly consolidated its Armed Forces in order to become
a flexible and high-capacity partner for multilateral operations. To accomplish this
consolidation while accommodating Belgiums cultural and linguistic diversity, the
state has: (1) permitted all personnel to use their native language; (2) established a
quota system to ensure proportional representation of French and Dutch speakers;
and (3) integrated its German-, French-, and Dutch-speaking personnel. The
objective has been to ensure fair representation while preserving military
efficiency and readiness. Despite these efforts, political tensions between Flemish
and Walloon citizens have surfaced in the armed forces, generating controversy
over the allocation of military resources and promotions.

36
Slobodan Lekic, Belgian Army Commander Denies Military Cuts Favour Dutch-Speaking Region, ASSOCIATED
PRESS (Oct. 17, 2010).
37
Slobodan Lekic, Belgian Army Commander Denies Military Cuts Favour Dutch-Speaking Region, ASSOCIATED
PRESS (Oct. 17, 2010).
38
Slobodan Lekic, Belgian Army Commander Denies Military Cuts Favour Dutch-Speaking Region, ASSOCIATED
PRESS (Oct. 17, 2010).