Looking at the list of socialist MP's at the Brussels Parliament, we quickly see that the number of members from Arabic, and more specifically Moroccan origin is disproportionally high. A quick count reveals that, out of 24 elected politicians, 12 are of Arabic/Moroccan descent, 1 of Black African descent, and only 11 of European (not only Belgian) descent ! This gives the Moroccans just 50% of the seats, + 1 seat for a Black African (5%). As the socialist party (PS) being the largest and ruling party, we can say that Brussels, the capital of the EU, is ruled at 55% by African immigrants ! But is this justified by the high number of Moroccans in Brussels ?
On January 1, 2005, the Brussels Capital-Region had a population of 1,006,749 inhabitants. Among them, 628,474 (65.9%) were Belgian-born. Naturalised migrants accounted for 3.9% of Brussels' population. The remaining 30.2% were (legal) foreign residents, from all 5 continents, but especially Europe and Africa.
The Moroccan community, although sizeable, only accounts for about 83,000 people, including 35,000 old residents (born abroad but living in Belgium for at least 20 years), 37,000 non-naturalized 1st and 2nd generations, 5,000 recent migrants, and 5,500 migrants naturalised Belgian. In other words, the number of Moroccans eligible for the parliament of Brussels and eligible to vote at regional elections is only 5,500 people, i.e. 0.0055% of the region's population !
How comes that such a tiny minority has managed to grab so many seats at the Parliament ? This is all the more surprising that the Moroccan community is made mostly of poor and uneducated immigrants, well-known for their integration problems. Indeed, out of 78,500 Moroccan who have lived in Belgium for over 20 years or were born there, only 5,500 (7%) have decided to taken on Belgian citizenship, despite the fact that all of them are eligible for naturalisation after 5 years of stay in the country.
The parliamentary results cannot be explained by the fact that foreigners have the right to vote after 5 years if residency in Belgium, because this only applies to local elections (for the townhall), not regional or national elections (for the parliament).
If someone has an explanation to this, please post it on this board.
On January 1, 2005, the Brussels Capital-Region had a population of 1,006,749 inhabitants. Among them, 628,474 (65.9%) were Belgian-born. Naturalised migrants accounted for 3.9% of Brussels' population. The remaining 30.2% were (legal) foreign residents, from all 5 continents, but especially Europe and Africa.
The Moroccan community, although sizeable, only accounts for about 83,000 people, including 35,000 old residents (born abroad but living in Belgium for at least 20 years), 37,000 non-naturalized 1st and 2nd generations, 5,000 recent migrants, and 5,500 migrants naturalised Belgian. In other words, the number of Moroccans eligible for the parliament of Brussels and eligible to vote at regional elections is only 5,500 people, i.e. 0.0055% of the region's population !
How comes that such a tiny minority has managed to grab so many seats at the Parliament ? This is all the more surprising that the Moroccan community is made mostly of poor and uneducated immigrants, well-known for their integration problems. Indeed, out of 78,500 Moroccan who have lived in Belgium for over 20 years or were born there, only 5,500 (7%) have decided to taken on Belgian citizenship, despite the fact that all of them are eligible for naturalisation after 5 years of stay in the country.
The parliamentary results cannot be explained by the fact that foreigners have the right to vote after 5 years if residency in Belgium, because this only applies to local elections (for the townhall), not regional or national elections (for the parliament).
If someone has an explanation to this, please post it on this board.