Belgium-Germany relations are the bilateral relations between Belgium and Germany. Both of these are neighbouring countries and share a common 204 kilometer long landborder.[1] Both nations are members of the Council of Europe, European Union, NATO and the Eurozone.
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Belgium has an embassy in Berlin,[2] a consul in Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Aachen, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Bremen, while Germany has an embassy in Brussels.
Some German cities (like Hanau and Cologne) are or were traditional centres of Belgian Protestant Diaspora.[citation needed] German is besides Dutch and French also the third official language in Belgium. The German-speaking Community of Belgium is the smallest of the three political communities in Belgium. Belgium is participating in the annual meeting of German-speaking countries since 2014.
History
editThe biggest part of modern territory of Belgium, along with the bulk of modern Germany, and other territories, had been part of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries until the end of the 18th century. The first king of Belgium after Belgium gained its independence in 1830 was Leopold I, who hailed from the aristocratic family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. To date, all Belgian kings stem from his lineage.
Belgium was invaded and occupied by Germany in the First and Second World Wars, with Belgian civilians being victims of German war crimes (see: Rape of Belgium, Vinkt massacre). The territory currently comprising the German-speaking community in Belgium was taken from Germany following World War I, as stipulated the Treaty of Versailles as compensation for the Allied countries. In 1914, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg formed a plan to establish a Central European Economic Union, comprising a number of European countries, including Germany and Belgium, in which, as he secretly stressed, there was to be a semblance of equality among the member states, but in fact it was to be under German leadership to cement Germany's economic hegemony over Central Europe (see also: Mitteleuropa).[3] The plan failed amid Germany's defeat in the war.
Diaspora
editAround 56,000 Belgians currently live in Germany, and around 40,000 Germans living in Belgium in 2021.[4][5]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ publisher. "Länder & Regionen - Regionales - Geografie - Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis)". www.destatis.de.
- ^ "Addresses of Belgian Embassies and Consulates abroad". 23 March 2016.
- ^ Kosiarski, Jacek (2018). "Cesarstwo Niemieckie a odbudowa państwa polskiego". Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations (in Polish). 54 (1): 178–179. ISSN 0209-0961.
- ^ "Bevölkerung in Privathaushalten nach Migrationshintergrund im weiteren Sinn nach ausgewählten Geburtsstaaten". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). Retrieved 2022-06-29.
- ^ "Belgien - Ausländer nach Staatsangehörigkeit 2020". Statista (in German). Retrieved 2022-06-29.
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