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Official delegation
The official delegation of the economic mission will be composed of the following ministers and secretaries of state:

• Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Federal Government;
• Geert Bourgeois, MinisterPresident of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Foreign Policy and Real Estate Heritage, Flemish Government;
• PierreYves Jeholet, Vice-President of the Walloon Government and Minister for the Economy, Industry, Research, Innovation, Digital, Employment and Training, Walloon Government;
• Pieter De Crem, State Secretary for Foreign Trade, Federal Government;
• Cécile Jodogne, Secretary of State of the Brussels Government responsible for Foreign Trade and Investment, and Minister of the Frenchspeaking Government of Brussels in charge of the Civil Service and Health, Government of Brussels.

Organization
Princely Economic Missions are jointly organized by the three regional trade and investment promotion agencies (Flanders Investment & Trade, Brussels Invest & Export (hub.brussels) ; Agence Wallonne à l’Exportation), the Foreign Trade Agency and the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs.

General framework
Belgium and Morocco are already strong partners on the economic and commercial level. Belgium is the 8th exporting country to Morocco and its 9th customer, and these figures are evolving favorably. However, our exchanges do not yet fully reflect the intensity of the relations that exist, at all levels, between our two countries. Beyond sustained growth, which makes Morocco the « locomotive of North Africa », there are many opportunities for Belgian companies, both large and small and medium-sized. This is certainly the case in sectors such as construction and infrastructure, transport and logistics, agri-food or textiles, but also in the automotive, aeronautics or renewable energies.

Morocco also offers a strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and Africa. This makes it a gateway to the African continent – as Belgium is to Europe. Our companies are closely following Morocco’s efforts to develop its economic relations with sub-Saharan Africa, and are well aware of the role that this country could play as a strategic partner to enable them to deploy in this region of the world. The Princely Economic Mission will therefore also be an opportunity to encourage triangular cooperation towards sub-Saharan Africa. Three pilot projects are already under way with the Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation, which show that this approach should be pursued.

Registered companies will participate in B2Bs, high-level conferences, seminars, official meetings and networking events. More than twenty contracts and agreements will be signed between Belgian and Moroccan partners.

Political meetings
Princess Astrid and the ministerial delegation will be received by the Head of the Moroccan Government Mr. Saad-Eddine El Otmani. During the week, they will also meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Nasser Bourita, and a number of other ministers in the government.

Trade relations between Belgium and Morocco
In 2017, Belgium accounted for 4% of European exports to Morocco (6th place), for an amount of nearly 900 million euros. The main categories of products exported by our country to Morocco are base metals, machinery, equipment and chemicals. On the import side, Belgium represents 2.2% of Morocco’s imports from the European Union (€333 million, 7th position). In 2017, the main products imported from Morocco were chemicals, food products and textiles.

Business & Human Rights
As part of the commitments of the Belgian National Action Plan « Business & Human Rights », a seminar will be organised on women’s entrepreneurship. A memorandum of cooperation will be signed on this occasion between the Belgian and Moroccan networks of women entrepreneurs.

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Belgium has celebrated the Royal Holiday (Fête du Roi) ever since November 15th, 1866, when Leopold II decreed it a special day. Nowadays the Royal Holiday is not a bank holiday but most government offices are closed on the day.

It’s the name day of Leopold (in the Germanic calendar) and Albert (in the general calendar).

It is also known as ‘Dynasty Day’ or the ‘Feast of the Dynasty’. The name Feast of the Dynasty (Fête de la Dynastie) was used during the regency of Prince Charles. This name was erroneous, however, as noted in a letter from the Minister of the Interior in 1953.

Background History

The holiday was celebrated for the first time in honor of King Leopold I (1790-186), who was the first monarch of Belgium.

King Leopold I was named after St. Leopold, whose name day is celebrated on this day in the German liturgical calendar.

Since 2001, the Belgian Federal Parliament holds a ceremony in honor of the King, in the presence of members of the Belgian Royal Family and other dignitaries. It is recognized as the official birthday of the King.

Fun fact

In Belgium the King and the Queen do not actually attend the King’s Feast, as the custom is that they should not be seen to celebrate themselves. Other members of the royal family will attend instead.

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On the 4th of April 1990, King Baudouin stepped down for 36 hours to allow the bill on abortion to enter into Belgian law.

Abortion has been and is still a huge deal across Europe and the world. Today, only one country in the European Union has completely banned it: Malta. But back in 1990, it was a different story. Very few countries had made abortion legal.

A Belgian solution to a Belgian problem

On March 29 of 1990, after a long period of intense demonstrations, protests, and debates in Belgian society, the Chamber of Representatives adopted the Lallemand-Michielsen’s bill, which partially decriminalises abortion, with a strong majority: 126 against 69, with 12 abstentions.

As in many countries throughout the world, the Head of State must sign the bill before it becomes official. It’s a mere formality that usually does not raise any issues. But Belgium is Belgium. When presented with the bill, the devoutly Catholic King Baudouin told then Prime Minister Wilfried Martens that he could not, in good conscience, sign a law permitting abortion.

The king’s refusal opened a can of worms. First of all, abortion had been discussed and debated for years. Not passing the law would have been extremely polemic. Secondly, since the Chamber represents the people, there was no true justification for the king not to accept what the constituents have decided. The country was on the brink of a constitutional crisis.

To resolve the issue, an exceptional solution was found. Under article 82 of the Belgian constitution (currently  article 93), adopted in 1831, the king may be declared unable to govern after which the Belgian government can assume his authority. It has only been used once in the history of Belgium when King Leopold III was detained by the Germans during World War II.

The king invoked the constitutional mechanism so he could temporarily exit the scene and let lawmakers do their thing. The abortion bill was finally promulgated into law in the early hours of April 4. Thirty six hours later, the Chamber returned for a special vote declaring that the king is able to govern again. Thus, after taking a day-and-a-half break from monarch duties, King Baudouin promptly returned to the throne. A typical Belgian story?

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It seems that still today we are struggling to provide a healthy substitute for the murderous nationalisms that have been fabricated since the 19^th century and that have led to the deaths of millions of people. While the European project has since managed to maintain the continent’s most lasting peace, the Nation as a unit cannot seem to be replaced and the nationalist fire seems to be burning brightly as the high scores of far right parties across Europe show.

Until we are able to surpass these nationalisms however, at the end of the day, monarchy or republic do not seem to make much of a difference. Some might say that monarchies are relics of the past giving a handful of people millions of Euros in subsidies, effectively putting them above the law and fulfilling obsolete roles. This is of course accurate.

The Paradise Papers investigation have shown the Queen of England is no different than self made millionaires like Bono or Madonna or politicians. All use their status, wealth and power to avoid paying taxes. The rich and powerful, from royal, business or pop dynasties can get around the rules designed for everyone else. In fact some of these manoeuvres are actually legal.

This reminds me of a saying which you have probably heard under one form or another: steal 1000 euros and you will be arrested, steal millions and you will walk free. Being a Republic or a Monarchy seems to matter little in this sense. In fact some of the continent’s most prosperous and egalitarian countries are monarchies (Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden).

At the end of the day, if this is an important question for citizens it should be answered. But the priority needs to be the reform a global system of tax evasion in front of which nations and international organisations seem powerless. 10 years of financial leaks have had little consequence. Journalists that investigate the corruption of the planet’s riches run the risk of being murdered.

I fully support young politicians wanting to move their country towards being fairer, more transparent and riding themselves of antique social structures that provide little more than circus to the people through Paris Match photo ops. But let them not loose sight of the real privilege that does not distinguish between red and blue blood.

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Marie Meunier, the vice-president of Les Jeunes Socialistes, was present at the talk and affirmed that the members of her party would be happy to support a Belgian Repubic, rather than a monarchy. She affirmed that the party fights against all those privileges acquired through inheritance or blood and that she sees the monarchy as a system connected to nationalisms. Meunier also added that the party is not currently looking to “play the game of certain parties” and that it would be happy to support the Republic if that was established through a reform. She finished saying that, if the Republic was considered a valid option, it would represent a great solution for Belgium.

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