City of Brussels

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This article explains the status of the Brussels municipality. See also Brussels-Capital Region and Brussels.
Municipal flag City of Brussels
Ville de Bruxelles (French)
Stad Brussel (Dutch)
Grand Place in Brussels.
 
Location on map of Belgium
Coat of arms City of Brussels in the Brussels-Capital Region
Geography
Country Belgium
Region Flag of Brussels-Capital Region Brussels-Capital Region
Community Flag of Wallonia French Community
Flag of Flanders Flemish Community
Arrondissement Brussels
Coordinates 50°51′N 04°21′E / 50.85, 4.35Coordinates: 50°51′N 04°21′E / 50.85, 4.35
Area 32.61 km²
Population (Source: NIS)
Population
– Males
– Females
- Density		 144,784 (January 1, 2006)
49.92%
50.08%
4440 inhab./km²
Economy
Unemployment rate 23.9% (January 1, 2006)
Mean annual income 9,393 €/pers. (2003)
Government
Mayor (list) Freddy Thielemans (PS)
Other information
Postal codes 1000-1130
Area codes 02
Web address www.brucity.be

The City of Brussels (French: Bruxelles-Ville or Ville de Bruxelles, Dutch: Stad Brussel) is one of the municipalities (the largest one) of the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium and is the official capital of Belgium.

Somewhat in the way that the City of London is different from London, the City of Brussels is different from Brussels. However, the expansion of the City was frozen at a later stage than the City of London, so that in addition to the old centre of Brussels, the towns of Haren, Laken (Dutch) or Laeken (French) and Neder-Over-Heembeek (Dutch and French), the Louise Avenue and the Bois de la Cambre/Terkamerenbos are included.

On 1 January 2006, the City of Brussels had a total population of 144,784. The total area is 32.61 km² which gives a population density of 4,440 inhabitants per km². As of 2007, there were approximately 50,000 registered foreigners in Brussels City.[1]

Contents

[edit] Capital of Belgium

City of Brussels town hall
City of Brussels town hall

According to the Belgian Constitution (Art. 194) the capital of Belgium is the City of Brussels municipality. Arguments that the use of lower case in "ville" and "stad" in Article 194 for "ville de Bruxelles" (French), "stad Brussel" (Dutch) makes a subtle difference and means that Brussels at large is the capital cannot be defended on a legal basis. However, although the City of Brussels is the official capital, the funds delegated by the federation and region for the representative role of the capital are divided among the 19 municipalities and, in practice, national Belgian institutions are indeed located not only in the City of Brussels, although many are, but also in most of the other 18 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital region. The implication is that de facto the entire Region serves as capital, but de jure only the City of Brussels is entitled to the title of capital of Belgium.

[edit] Mayors of the City of Brussels

As in every other Belgian municipality, the City of Brussels is headed by a mayor, which should be confused with neither the Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region nor the Governor of Brussels-Capital.

[edit] See also

List of mayors of the City of Brussels

[edit] References

  1. ^ Statistics foreign population in Belgium by municipality (in French and Dutch only)


[edit] External links

v • d • e
Brussels topics
Government
City of Brussels

Topics
History
Parks
Buildings
Transport
Streets
Lists
Belgium Portal · European Union Portal


v • d • e
Municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium
Authorities: Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region · Brussels Parliament · Governor of Brussels-Capital