Belgium and Luxembourg

Abstract

The European election campaign in Belgium was conducted in parallel with the first election of the Brussels Regional Council, the last major piece in the jigsaw of the reform of the state, which transformed Belgium into an effective federal system. As a result of the EC ‘pacification’, Belgium had entered a period of greater political calm. The campaign was therefore rather dull and uncontroversial, raising few ripples on the becalmed pond of Belgian political life. The results were also predictable and conformed with the general trend elsewhere in the EC, though the anti-government swing in Belgium was very limited and benign. Turnout was 92.1 per cent, almost identical with the 1984 figure, but it should be remembered that voting is compulsory for voters under the age of 70.