Defense
 The defense is based on NATO membership. NATO's highest
body (Atlantic Council) is located in Brussels, and the
military NATO staff for Europe (SHAPE) is located at Mons.
The defense comprises (2008) 40,000 men enlisted squad with
2,000 men in reserve. The conscience system has been
discontinued. The defense is organized in an army of 12,000
men in a mechanized brigade and a rapid-fire brigade. The
reserves form a territorial defense of eleven battalions.
The Navy comprises 1,600 men with 2 frigates, 6 mine
clearance vessels, etc. and is operated operationally from
the Netherlands. The Air Force comprises 7,000 men with 71
fighter aircraft. The equipment is of a high NATO standard. To see related acronyms about this country, please check ABBREVIATIONFINDER where you can see that BEL stands for Belgium.
Defense costs decreased in 1985–2006 from 3.0% to 1.1% of
GDP. Belgium participates in a number of UN peacekeeping
efforts. Afghanistan (ISAF), Bosnia and Herzegovina/
Croatia, Chad (EUFOR), Lebanon (UNIFIL II) and Serbia
(KFOR). The United Kingdom has 400 men and the United States
1,350 men grouped in Belgium.
In April 2010, Leterme again filed his resignation when
the Flemish OpenVLD party withdrew its support to the
government. The June parliamentary elections were won in the
Flemish areas by the separate N-VA (by 17.4% of the vote),
while the Socialist Party (by 13.7%) became the largest in
Wallonia. The result threw Belgium into a renewed political
crisis.
Belgium reaffirmed the country's development in a fascist
direction when in April 2010 Parliament passed a ban on
Muslim women's burqa and niqab. Human rights organizations
with Amnesty International at the head had warned before
then of the steps that contravene the Human Rights
Convention. In the 1930's, Hitler Germany laid out
guidelines for Jewish clothing. In 2009, Amnesty criticized
Belgium for not providing housing for refugees. In the fall,
200 refugees were forced to sleep on the streets due to lack
of space in the existing refugee centers. Belgian police
also make arbitrary arrests and detentions, mistreating
detainees and detainees - especially refugees and
immigrants.
In December 2011, Social Democrat Elio Di Rupo assumed
the post of prime minister. Di Rupo was the first Social
Democrat since 1974 to govern the country; the first Belgian
of neither Flemish or Walloon descent (he was the son of
Italian immigrants); and the first declared gay in the world
to occupy a prime ministerial post. Di Rupo's reign ended
589 days of acute parliamentary crisis in the country. Over
1½ years without government. It was a 6-party coalition
government between the Flemish and Valonian social
democracies, Christian democrats and liberals. The green
parties did not form part of the government, but declared
their readiness to support its proposals for state reform,
which entailed decentralization of power in regions and
municipalities. Absent from the government was the
right-wing N-VA.
In September 2012, the European Court of Human Rights
issued a ruling that Lahoucine El Haski had not received a
fair trial when a Belgian court in 2006 convicted him of
participating in terrorist activities based on statements
made by torture in third countries. Morocco. The Court
criticized Belgium for allowing information obtained by
torture to be used in Belgian court cases. In Denmark too,
the prosecution tried to get the courts to accept
information obtained by torture. It rejected the courts, but
instead accepted secret hearings, anonymous witnesses and
sentencing without evidence.
In October 2012 there were municipal elections. The
election reinforced the tendency of the parliamentary
elections in 2010. The right-wing N-VA became the largest in
3 out of 5 Flemish regions, while the Christian Democrats
took the last 2. N-VA became the largest party in the
Flemish region with 28.5% of the vote behind.
King Albert II of Belgium abdicated for health reasons in
July 2013, paving the way for his eldest son Philippe, who
became a new king.
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