Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0036/00360.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 33KB | 534 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00360}
$Pretitle{370}
$Title{Belgium
Chapter 4D.   Interest Groups}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Rinn-Sup Shinn}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{belgian
belgium
states
economic
foreign
political
countries
percent
cooperation
policy}
$Date{1984}
$Log{}
Country:     Belgium
Book:        Belgium, A Country Study
Author:      Rinn-Sup Shinn
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1984

Chapter 4D.   Interest Groups

     Influence on public opinion and policymaking is exerted by a multitude of
groups covering a wide range of social, cultural, professional, and economic
activities. In parliament the interest groups may attempt to pressure party
leaders to use their persuasion in obtaining the passage of a particular bill,
or an interest-group member may be in parliament and thereby sway others. In
relations with the cabinet, the groups may work through the parties that are
represented there. If the groups are economically significant, they usually
get an audience with the minister whose ministry corresponds with their
interests. Generally, the cabinet retains more independence from the lobbyists
than do the parties because its ministers, by consensus, make important
decisions on national issues. Such consensus may benefit from advance
consultation with representatives of nongovernmental groups, but the process
of what is known as concertation (see Glossary) may at times be eliminated.
A case in point was the decision of the Martens V government in 1981 to
modify the terms of indexing without consulting the labor unions, which make
up one of the so-called social partners in government, management, and labor.
The modification was accomplished under the special powers authority granted
the government by parliament.

     In Belgium there are several kinds of pressure groups: religious or
philosophical, cultural, economic, professional, group service, and civil
organizations. The first group includes church, Masonic, and free-not
state-university organizations. The most influential of these is the Roman
Catholic Church, although its political role declined after 1958 when a
Social Christian-Liberal compromise on a program of state aid to
church-operated primary and secondary schools removed the religious question
from the forefront of politics in earlier years (see The Second School
Conflict 1950-58, ch. 1.). The church's voice has not been completely
stilled, however. It continues to support the candidates of the CVV/PSC, and
its position on Catholic education, social policy, and abortion is usually
upheld by both Dutch-speaking and French-speaking Social Christians.

     Cultural groups are usually linked to the Dutch-speaker or French-speaker
movements seeking to promote a language-based regional and cultural identity.
Their influence has waned considerably since the rise of small regional
political parties in the 1970s.

     Economic groups cover a diverse array of people, such as bankers,
employers, middle-class workers, farmers, civil servants, and white- and
blue-collar workers, as well as community services and certain professions.
In the financial circle the best known and most powerful group is the Societe
General de Belgique, the giant private financial conglomerate, which is seen
by many to be a source of enormous influence on the government's financial
policies (see Financial Services, ch. 3). The official spokesman for
management in relations with the government and the labor unions and on the
national economy is the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (VBO/FEB), which
comprises some 40 major industrial and nonindustrial associations. Among
the nonindustrial concerns are banks, insurance companies, distribution firms,
and multinational corporations.

     Middle-class organizations are set up for the protection of artisans,
small and medium-sized firms, and shopkeepers. The welfare of these
self-employed people is also the primary concern of the Ministry of Public
Works and Middle Classes at the national level.

     For farmers, two organizations-the Farmers League (Belgische Boerenbond,
commonly called the Boerenbond) in Flanders and the Belgian Agricultural
Alliance (Alliance Agricole Belge-AAB) in Wallonia-are the most influential.
The former is linked closely to the CVP/PSC. These organizations act on
educational, financial, and political matters. Collective buying and selling,
insurance, and savings banks also are among their endeavors. In recent years
their scope of operation has expanded to the European level because the EC
has empowered them to make certain decisions on agriculture in its member
countries (see Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing, ch. 3).

     Liberal professions maintain their own associations covering medicine,
law, pharmacy, and architecture. Political activity is also organized for
alumni associations of institutions of higher learning. Civil servants
are grouped along political and language lines.

     Blue- and white-collar workers compose three major trade unions: the
Federation of Belgian Christian Trade Unions (ACV/CSC), the General Federation
of Belgian Labor (ABVV/FGTB), and the General Center of Belgian Liberal
Trade Unions (ACLBV/CGSLB). Although these unions claim to be independent
of any political party, they are in fact closely linked to the Social
Christians, the Socialists, and the Liberals, respectively. At the end of the
1970s they claimed to account for 70 percent of the labor force, the highest
rate of unionization in the EC. The intimate ties between the unions and
the political parties have yielded favorable labor legislation and social
security benefits. Many union leaders have served on party committees at
local and national levels.

     The role of trade unions as pressure groups stems from a 1935 government
crisis during which representatives of the unions were consulted for the
first time. The organization of trade unions has developed without
parliamentary legislation. Workers have been consulted since the 1930s on
important social and economic matters relating to their own industry on a
national level through various councils. Trade union executives have been
able to exert some pressure on the formation of coalition governments, and
unions also have been involved in monitoring the implementation of
legislation. Pressure has been wielded through strikes, demonstrations, press
campaigns, communiques, memorandums, or pressuring the political parties
against participating in the coalition government. For decades the major
weakness of the trade unions has been the division of the labor movement into
partisan lines. Since the late 1970s the ABVV/FGTB and the ACV/CSC have made
a concerted effort to present a common front in the labor offensive, but
their limited success has been confined mostly to Wallonia. In Flanders the
CSC continued to collaborate with the centrist Social Christians.

     Through the mid-1950s the ABVV/FGTB, which in 1979 comprised about
1,113,000 members, was the largest federation, but in 1959 the ACV/CSC
became the front-runner for the first time. In 1979 it had 1,273,000 members;
an unknown proportion of this membership belonged to the broadly based
(ACW/MOC), founded in 1945. The distant third in union strength was the
ACLBV/CGSLB, which had 200,000 members in 1979.

     Community service groups are organized along religious or political
lines and provide services to the members associated with traditional parties.
Various groups form mutual aid organizations that operate clinics and
health programs throughout the country. These are affiliated with the
three traditional parties and play an important role in retaining unity within
them or in what are commonly known as "the Catholic world," "the Socialist
world," and "the Liberal world." These "worlds" are also referred to as
"pillars".

     The press, radio, and television are another source of influence on
public opinion and, possibly, policymaking as well. Most of the important
newspapers and periodicals are run by family con