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56-501: Machelen ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɑxələ(n)] ) is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant , in the Flemish region of Belgium . The municipality comprises the towns of Diegem and Machelen proper. On 1 January 2006, Machelen had a total population of 12,500. The total area is 11.59 km (4.47 sq mi), which gives a population density of 1,078/km (2,790/sq mi). The official language of Machelen

112-444: A geographical, linguistic, economic, social or cultural nature. In 1964 and in 1969 and 1970, roughly 300 municipalities ceased to exist and were subsumed into other municipalities. The number of municipalities was reduced from 2,663 in 1961 to 2,586 in 1965 and to 2,359 in 1971. Article 4 of the constitution states that each municipality must belong to only one of the four official language areas that were established in 1962–63. In

168-734: A little country where people speak French". For the people of Malmedy, this would eventually change when German was implemented as the only official administrative language. This was no problem in Eupen and Sankt Vith but more so in Malmedy-Waimes. There was some resistance to the interdiction: for instance, Roman Catholic priests who were forbidden to preach in French started to preach in Walloon in order to avoid having to preach in German. Most of

224-662: A minor centre of the industry for treating sheep's wool and enjoyed links to other manufacturing centres in the region of Aachen , Monschau , and Verviers . In 1795, as the French Revolutionary Army entered the Austrian Netherlands, the area was also taken over and eventually incorporated in its entirety into the French department of the Ourthe . At the Congress of Vienna , the whole area

280-890: A result, there are several differences between the municipal institutions in Flanders, in Wallonia and in Brussels. Wallonia has also further devolved part of its responsibilities to the German-speaking Community with regards to its 9 municipalities. The three Regions can amend or replace the existing legislation on the municipalities, most notably the New Municipal Law. In the Flanders the Municipal Decree of 15 July 2005 applies. In Wallonia

336-417: A whole should therefore not be confused with the German language region created in 1963 or with the German-speaking Community of Belgium , which does not include the (smaller) Malmedy and Waimes areas. After becoming part of Belgium in the 1920s, the municipalities composing these territories were grouped into the three cantons of Eupen , Malmedy , and Sankt Vith . The administration was overhauled during

392-658: Is Dutch , as in the rest of Flanders . A suburb of Brussels , Machelen directly borders the Brussels-Capital Region , specifically the Haren neighbourhood. A portion of Brussels Airport is located in Diegem, together with neighbouring town of Zaventem . The municipality contains three major road junctions: the intersection of the Brussels Ring (R0) and A201 serving the airport (labelled Zaventem),

448-417: Is also responsible for the maintenance of public order in their municipality. They chair the college of mayor and aldermen or the municipal college, depending on the region , as well. In the Flanders and Brussels , the mayor is appointed by the regional government, on the nomination of the municipal council, for a term of office of six years. In Wallonia , the mayor is the municipal councillor who received

504-454: Is responsible for the daily administration of the municipality. It is also responsible for the preparation and implementation of the decisions of the municipal council. The municipal council ( Dutch : gemeenteraad ; French : conseil communal ; German : Gemeinderat ) is the representative assembly of the municipality and consists of members directly elected for a term of office of six years. The number of municipal councillors depends on

560-693: Is the public library of the town. This Flemish Brabant location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Municipalities of Belgium Here are three lists of municipalities for each one of the three regions: The municipalities, as an administrative division , were officially created in 1795, when the Directoire reorganised the structures of the Ancien Régime . The municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants were grouped in so-called canton municipalities. In 1800, these canton municipalities were abolished again and

616-646: The Duchy of Luxembourg . The small village of Manderfeld-Schönberg belonged to the Archbishopric of Trier . Malmedy and Waimes , except the village of Faymonville, were part of the abbatial principality of Stavelot-Malmedy which was an Imperial Estate of the Holy Roman Empire . By the 19th century, the majority of the territory spoke German while the city of Malmedy was split between French and German speakers. In this period, Eupen emerged as

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672-610: The East Cantons that were added to Belgium following the First World War . In 1961, the so-called Unitary Law ( Dutch : Eenheidswet ; French : Loi unique ; German : Einheitsgesetz ), of which the fourth chapter was dedicated to the territorial organisation of the municipalities, was adopted. The authority to abolish municipalities was entrusted to the executive branch for a period of 10 years. Municipalities could be merged on financial grounds or on grounds of

728-552: The German-speaking Community of Belgium , one of Belgium's three federal communities . The history of the area dates back to the 6th century, when Christianity was first introduced to Southern Rhineland. In 651, Frankish monks established Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy ; Malmedy then became part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège , while Stavelot was attached to the Archdiocese of Cologne . Following

784-655: The Homeland-Loyal Front ( Heimattreue Front ), which achieved a majority in all three of the Eupen-Malmedy districts in the elections of 1936 and 1939. In World War II , Nazi Germany invaded Belgium in May 1940 and rapidly defeated and occupied Belgium for a second time. On 18 May, Eupen-Malmedy was re-integrated into Germany while the rest of the country remained under military occupation . The Belgian government in exile , however, refused to recognise

840-546: The Rhenish Republic (which would eventually be created in 1923, but last only a month). Others did argue that the area should be annexed by Belgium - this idea was based on the premise that the "first Belgian king, Leopold I, himself of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, seemed a more endearing prospect than being party to a revolutionary republic as was being fought over in Germany". Local germanophone population of Eupen-Malmedy

896-618: The Treaty of Verdun in 843, Stavelot-Malmedy became a part of Middle Francia . Ultimately, the principality of Stavelot-Malmedy was an independent state within the Holy Roman Empire until 1795. The northern part around Eupen was originally part of the Duchy of Limburg , a dependency of the Duchy of Brabant which was latterly part of the Austrian Netherlands . The Southern part, around Sankt Vith , belonged to

952-545: The Weimar German government of Gustav Stresemann over a possible return of the region in exchange for money. The negotiations collapsed in 1926 following the German signature of the Locarno Treaties (1925) guaranteeing Germany's western borders amid international pressure. Various ethnic German organisations emerged in the Eupen-Malmedy region in the late 1920s, campaigning to promote German culture and

1008-650: The local government reforms of 1976–77 , and are now administered as follows: Linguistically, the Canton of Malmedy is mostly Francophone while the Cantons of Eupen and Sankt Vith are mostly Germanophone. When the three language-based communities of Belgium were created as part of the Belgian state reforms , Malmedy was placed in the French-speaking Community and Eupen and Sankt Vith were placed in

1064-435: The regular elections of 14 October 2018 , and the change took effect on 1 January 2019. The mayor ( Dutch : burgemeester ; French : bourgmestre ; German : Bürgermeister ) is not only the head of the municipality but also the representative of the regional and the federal government at the local level. In that capacity, they are responsible for the execution of laws , decrees , ordinances and orders. The mayor

1120-584: The Belgian borders were recognised in 1839, as 124 municipalities were ceded to the Netherlands and another 119 municipalities became the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (see the article Communes of Luxembourg for details). New municipalities were created until 1928. There were 2,528 municipalities in 1850, 2,572 in 1875, 2,617 in 1900 and a maximum of 2,675 in 1929. This also includes the municipalities of

1176-625: The Code of Local Democracy and Decentralization applies. In Brussels several provisions of the New Municipal Law have been modified by ordinance , such as the Ordinance of 17 July 2003. The legal framework in the three Regions is still relatively similar, but that could change in the future. Since 1970, the Belgian Constitution includes the possibility to create agglomerations and federations of municipalities by law. This possibility

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1232-671: The French Community. There are protected rights for the minority language in both areas. The linguistic situation of the wider area is complex since it lies on the border between the Romance and Germanic languages and on an isogloss dividing several German dialects. In general, over the past decades, the local dialects have lost ground to German and French. Historically, in Aubel, Baelen, Plombières, Welkenraedt (neighbouring Belgian municipalities), Eupen , Kelmis and Lontzen ,

1288-688: The German annexation and maintained that Eupen-Malmedy was part of Belgium. Local support for the German takeover eroded sharply after the German invasion of the Soviet Union . Administered as part of Nazi Germany, 8,000 men in the region were conscripted into the German armed forces of whom 2,200 were killed on the Eastern Front . The region suffered severely during the Ardennes Offensive of 1944–45 and Sankt Vith, in particular,

1344-412: The Walloon language. That is also the case for the children: "The New Year's wishes have hardly been uttered when the children start going round from house to house in order to celebrate the three kings. The individual groups sing a song at the doors and demand a “lôtire” for their efforts, in other words a small sweetmeat. They sing in Walloon and say that the kings have sent them." The East Cantons as

1400-651: The b.house on the grounds of Brussels Airport and in Diegem , Machelen. Brussels Airlines formed in 2006 as a result of a merger between SN Brussels and Virgin Express . The Europe, Middle East, and Africa operations of Chevron Phillips are based in Stockholm Building in Airport Plaza in Diegem. Primary schools include: GISO Machelen provides secondary education. Bibliotheek Machelen-Diegem

1456-540: The creation of the German-speaking Community of Belgium in 1984 which provided cultural autonomy to Belgium's 70,000 German speakers along the same lines as those already negotiated for Belgium's Dutch and French-speaking communities between 1971 and 1980. The nine German-speaking communes of the East Cantons form part of the German-speaking Community while Malmedy and Waimes are part of

1512-532: The federal level to the three regions. This did not instantly have any significant effect on the reorganisation of municipalities, up until the Flemish Bourgeois Government (2014-2019) provided a legal framework and financial incentives for municipalities to consider merging. This led 15 Flemish municipalities to merge into seven, decreasing the total number of Flemish municipalities from 308 to 300. Their municipal councils were elected in

1568-563: The figure for the rest of Belgium represented less than five percent. After the war, demands to return Eupen-Malmedy to Germany faded. The first regionalist political party, the Party of German-speaking Belgians ( Partei der Deutschsprachigen Belgier , or PDB), emerged in 1971 to argue that greater autonomy to be given to Belgium's German speakers within the newly created federal state but not for regional secession or unification with what had become West Germany . The PDB's campaign culminated in

1624-546: The inhabitants of this region. Even in the mainly French or Walloon speaking Malmedy, changes went smoothly since the municipality was allowed to continue to use French for its administration until the Kulturkampf when the authorities forbade the use of French. For instance, during a visit to the city in 1856, the King Frederick William IV is believed to have said "I am proud to have in my kingdom

1680-439: The largest number of preferential votes of the majority party that received the largest number of votes in the municipal elections. Hence, it is also possible that the mayor is not a member of the largest party, as the largest party is not always part of the governing coalition. It is also possible in Wallonia for the municipal council to adopt a constructive motion of no confidence in the municipal college. The executive organ of

1736-485: The local francophone and germanophone population initially enjoyed good relations with each other, the relations soured after Bismarck ascended to power in 1862. Tension between the Walloon and germanophone communities further increased after the rise of German Empire in 1871. Bismarck's Kulturkampf policy greatly alienated the majority Catholic population of Eupen-Malmedy, and the policy soon escalated into exclusion of minority languages and discrimination of minorities. Only

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1792-498: The local languages have been classed as Limburgish , thus dialects of Low Franconian or Dutch . The inhabitants of Raeren have spoken Ripuarian and those of the district of Sankt Vith Moselle Franconian , which are dialects of High German . On the other hand, most of the people living in Malmedy and Waimes speak Walloon or French, with a minority of German speakers. Some of the folklore and carnival traditions there are still in

1848-565: The most minute Belgian municipalities are still found in this group, notably Herstappe with only 84 inhabitants (in 2006). Lucien Harmegnies, Minister of the Interior in the government of Gaston Eyskens (1968–1972) decided to continue the process of territorial reorganization of Belgium. In 1971, the provisions of the Unity Law were extended and modified to apply to large agglomerations, which were initially excluded from its provisions. It

1904-477: The municipalities of Berchem , Borgerhout , Deurne , Hoboken , Ekeren , Merksem and Wilrijk in 1983 finally reduced the number of municipalities in Belgium to 589 and was the last reorganization of the municipalities for several decades because the merger of the 19 municipalities of Brussels was postponed indefinitely. The fifth state reform (2001) transferred the responsibility over municipalities from

1960-426: The municipality is known as the college of mayor and aldermen ( Dutch : college van burgemeester en schepenen ; French : collège des bourgmestre et échevins ), commonly referred to as the college of aldermen ( Dutch : schepencollege ; French : collège échevinal ), in Flanders and Brussels, and as the municipal college ( French : collège communal ; German : gemeindekollegium ) in Wallonia. This college

2016-545: The number of autonomous municipalities became 2,776. Not much changed during the United Kingdom of the Netherlands , only a number of smaller municipalities were merged. In 1831, Belgium was divided into 2,739 municipalities, a number which remained more or less constant until 1961. The law of 30 March 1836 regulated municipalities and their governing bodies. The number of municipalities was reduced to 2,508 when

2072-530: The number of inhabitants of the municipality, and can vary from 7 to 55. It is responsible for all matters that are of municipal interest. Following the Fifth State Reform in 2001, the responsibility for the composition, the organization, the competences and the activities of the municipal institutions were devolved to the Regions , as well as the responsibility for the provincial institutions . As

2128-416: The previously neutral territory of Moresnet . At the time, Eupen-Malmedy had approximately 64,000 residents. Although the Belgian government attempted to depict Eupen-Malmedy as an ethnically Belgian territory, many Belgians were suspicious of the move. In 1919, a Transitional Government was established for Eupen-Malmedy by the Belgian government. It was headed by a Belgian general, Herman Baltia . Under

2184-538: The result and the Transitional Government prepared for the unification of Eupen-Malmedy with Belgium in June 1925. The reaction of the German population to annexation varied. At the time, most of the population considered the republican government of Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann to be on a brink of collapse or a socialist revolution, which led some activists to advocate for the creation of

2240-515: The return of the territory to Germany. After the rise to power of Adolf Hitler 's Nazi Party in Germany in 1933 and the revanchist campaign under the slogan Heim ins Reich ( lit.   ' Back Home to the Reich ' ), agitation in Eupen-Malmedy increased and many inhabitants began to wear swastika badges. Local socialists began to distance themselves from calls to return to Germany. In 1935, an openly pro-Nazi party emerged locally, known as

2296-567: The start of the A1 towards Mechelen and Antwerp fed by the ring road, and the first junction on the A1 meeting the N211 feeder road from Vilvoorde , also accessing the airport. Buda railway station (on Belgian railway line 25 ) serves part of the area, although only Service S1 stops there, other routes using Vilvoorde railway station further north. Brussels Airlines has its corporate headquarters in

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2352-466: The terms of the Treaty, Belgian control over the territory was contingent on the result of a local plebiscite , held between January and June 1920. The plebiscite itself was held without a secret ballot , and organized as a consultation in which all citizens who opposed the annexation had to formally register their protest; just 271 of nearly 34,000 eligible voters did so. The League of Nations accepted

2408-422: The territory had spoken German or German dialects for centuries, with Walloon being spoken by about two-thirds of the population in the district of Malmedy at the time it was newly created in 1816. The overwhelmingly German-speaking district of Sankt Vith further south was, in 1821, united with the district of Malmedy to form a new, much larger district of Malmedy that then had a majority of German-speakers. While

2464-404: The three officially unilingual language areas, a couple of dozen municipalities in the vicinity of another language area must provide limited facilities for speakers of that other language. As only a law carried by special majorities can change the language status of any municipality, these arrangements have prevented some small municipalities with facilities to be merged in the 1970s, and thus

2520-469: The towns of Eupen , Malmedy , and Sankt Vith which encompass some 730 square kilometres (280 sq mi). Elsewhere in Belgium, the region is commonly referred to as the East Cantons ( French : Cantons de l'Est , Dutch : Oostkantons ). Eupen-Malmedy became part of Belgium in the aftermath of World War I . The region, which had formerly been part of Prussia and the German Empire ,

2576-451: The use of the standard German language was permitted, and the Walloon population was prosecuted for speaking French publicy. After French and Walloon languages were excluded from both education and administration, Walloon administrations were expelled in 1879. According to the 1 December 1900 population census this new district of Malmedy had only a minority of 28.7% Walloon-speaking inhabitants. The smaller but more populous district of Eupen

2632-544: Was under German military occupation . With the defeat of Germany in 1918, Belgian politicians attempted to expand Belgian territory at German expense. However, the settlement at the Treaty of Versailles proved disappointing for Belgium. Belgium failed to gain any territory from the Netherlands or Luxembourg, but was awarded the small German colonial territory of Ruanda-Urundi in Africa and Eupen-Malmedy in Europe, together with

2688-414: Was allocated to Belgium by the Treaty of Versailles . It was formally annexed after a controversial referendum in 1920, becoming part of Liège Province in 1925. Agitation by German nationalists during the interwar period led to its re-annexation by Nazi Germany during World War II . It was returned to Belgium in 1945. Nine of the eleven municipalities which originally constituted Eupen-Malmedy now form

2744-575: Was almost entirely German-speaking, with Walloon and French speaking minorities making up less than 5 percent. During the German occupation of Belgium during World War I, German policy of Flamenpolitik (favouring the Flemish over the Walloons) affected Eupen-Malmedy as well. During World War I , Belgium was invaded by the German Empire and between 1914 and 1918 most of Belgium's territory

2800-721: Was another Minister of the Interior, Joseph Michel, who managed the process. On 30 December 1975 the law regarding the merger of the municipalities was adopted. The merger became effective on 1 January 1977. The merger of 1977 further reduced the number of municipalities in Belgium from 2,359 to 596. Because of the specific nature of the reorganization in Antwerp , the law of 30 December 1975 did not enter into force for Antwerp until 1 January 1983. The formerly-independent municipalities were called districts and were given an advisory function. However, on 1 January 2001 they were given an administrative function again. The merger of Antwerp with

2856-492: Was awarded to the Kingdom of Prussia . In the northwest of the area, Moresnet , coveted by both the Netherlands and Prussia for its calamine , was declared a neutral territory. After 1830, the 50 percent guardianship of the Netherlands was taken over by newly independent Belgium, and this remained so even after 1839, when Belgium relinquished its claims to neighbouring Dutch Limburg . This change did not significantly affect

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2912-513: Was finally incorporated into the Belgian state as part of Liège Province . The inhabitants of the region voted in its first Belgian general election in 1925 and returned a vote in favour of the centre-right Catholic Party . A local centre-right party, the Christian People's Party ( Christliche Volkspartei ), emerged by 1929. The early Belgian administration of Eupen-Malmedy was paralleled by secret negotiations between Belgium and

2968-587: Was heavily influenced by monarchism as well as Catholicism at the time. While most of the population was passive and indifferent to both the referendum and Belgian annexation, the Germans of Eupen-Malmedy were roughly evenly split into a pro-Belgian and pro-German camp, which ran across already existing ideological divides. Catholic and socialist circles supported annexation into Belgium, and were represented by German-speaking newspapers such as Die Fliegende Taube , La Semaine and Die Arbeit . The pro-German position

3024-441: Was nearly totally destroyed by bombing. After the war, the Belgian state reasserted sovereignty over the area, which caused the male inhabitants of the area who had served in the German army to lose their civil rights as "traitors to the Belgian state". After the war, the Belgian authorities opened 16,400 investigations into citizens from Eupen-Malmedy, representing around 25 percent of the region's entire population. In comparison,

3080-476: Was only used once in 1971 when the Brussels Agglomeration, comprising the 19 municipalities of Brussels , was put into place. It de facto ceased to exist in 1989 when the organs of the Brussels-Capital Region were established. Eupen-Malmedy Eupen-Malmedy is a small, predominantly German-speaking region in eastern Belgium . It consists of three administrative cantons around

3136-695: Was represented by liberal and secular circles, organized around newspapers such as Der Landbote and Eupener Zeitung . Previously part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne , a separate Apostolic Administration of Eupen–Malmedy–Sankt Vith was founded in 1919. This became the separate Diocese of Eupen-Malmedy which was founded in July 1920. It was united with the Diocese of Liège and suppressed in April 1925. In June 1925, Eupen-Malmedy

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