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In Belgian political rhetoric municipalities are described as the cornerstone of a well-balanced government organization. However, this is not noticeable in the administrative language: municipalities are described as 'subordinate' administrations or 'administrations under tutelage'. Their share in total government expenditure is alarmingly low, 10.8%.The importance of local politics is determined by:- the political will to recognise the municipality as a 'civil society'- the interest in the democratic content of government and the necessity of policy differentiation- the recognition of local government as a laboratory for policy and as a voice of the place community in the national politics.From the perspective of policy-making Belgian municipalities have a mixed profile. First of all, they are 'cultural municipalities': 28.5% of the expenditures are in the educational and cultural sector. Other important expenditures are: roads and utilities (17%) and security (12.8%). Compared to different West-European countries, expenditures for social matters are rather limited (11 %).

In Belgium, the number of municipalities was reduced from 2,663 to 596 by means of amalgamation.In the sketching of the framework of this reform, attention is first of all given to the manner in which the consensus required for it could be obtained. At the same time, the criteria employed and the pragmaticapplication thereof are investigated.Then, the new municipal division is tested for the motives and objectives that lay at the foundation of this reform. The expectations involved were in large measure, related to the effects that were seen as the inherent consequence of the expansion of the territoria! scale of the municipalities.Finally, this reform is tested with respect to other than territorial components of the municipal administrative power. The reform remains incomplete on several points. This appears, for example, from the continuing absence of functional reforms with regard to decentralisation and from the lack of attention for the adjustment of the municipal working rules both in the area of effective administration as wellt as in the area of open and democratie administration.

A report of a congress sponsored by the Politologisch Instit evaluating the amalgamation of Belgian municipalities, especially the consequences of this reform in the areas of municipal organization & policy implementation. The overall impression is one of improved policy formation, & incrased support of policies by a quantitatively & qualitatively better constructed official apparatus. In most of the new municipalities, there are now more perspectives available for policy implementation. However, there are also weak points in transition from small to large-scale administration, related to the necessity of assuring democratic policy implementation in a context of greater distance between administration & citizens. 3 Tables. Modified HA.

In 1975/76, the Belgian government gave high priority to the restructuring of local government. By means of mergers, the total number of communes decreased from 2,359 to 596. The decision-making process that led to the mergers is studied. The single most important factor was the personality of & the initiatives taken by the Minister of the Interior. He dealt with the delimitation of the new communes as well as personnel, finances, & transfer of goods. Local governments had only the option of advising on the delimitation of the new communes' territory (in some cases even that option was de facto & denied to them). These new delimitations were approved by the legislative assemblies at the end of 1975, after difficult & heated debates. At the same time, important resistance to the mergers developed on the part of the communes & opposition parties, particularly the Belgian Socialist Party, which did not participate in the government that drew the new map of communes according to its own objectives. Opposition parties were in agreement with the principle of the mergers; they mainly contested the way in which they were executed. Abolition of the federations of communes around the Brussels agglomeration, which was decided at the same time, must be understood in the context of the typically Belgian problem of the coexistence of two different linguistic groups. Modified HA.

The law of december 30, 1975 sanctioned the plan, established by the government to merge the larger part of the Belgian municipalities.From january 1, 1977 on, the number of communes would thereby be reduced from 2,359 to 596. Whereas in 1975 more than 81 % of the communes still counted less than 5,000 inhabitants, this percentage will in the future amount only to 18.6 %.The legislator and the government have primarily considered the strengthening of the municipal governmental capacity as a normal result of the scale effect. Since the mergers would result in a higher number of inhabitants - and necessarily also in larger areas - it was taken for granted that the necessary means would now be available to ameliorate the municipal services. Such a scale-effect can actually be noticed for the following items : the actual municipal services, the number and qualifications of the municipal personnel and the financial strength. Complementary, both legislator and government took a few measures concerning the professional situation of the municipal personnel and concerning the municipal finances. Same of these measures however don't stimulate the normal results of the scale-effect but rather tend to slow these down. Yet, reassuming, one may say that the scale-effect wilt have a positive result in strengthening the municipal governmental capacity.
However, the mergers leave quite some questions unanswered concerning several important aspects of municipal governmental capacity - especially regarding the municipal autonomy and competencies, and thedemocratic organisation and functioning. Also, some important points need to be clarified as to the future position of the inter- or supramunicipal cooperation structures, which remain necessary.

In this synthesis report of the congress that was sponsored by the Politologisch Instituut on the evaluation of the amalgamations of the municipalities, the changes are further investigated that were the consequences of this reform in the areas of municipal organisation and policy implementation.The overall impression that one can receive from the evaluation conducted up tilt now allows one to point to several favourable developments ihat relate, for example, to the content improvement of policy formation and to a better support of it by a quantitatively and, apparently, also a qualitatively better constructed official apparatus. In most of the new municipalities, there are more perspectives available for policy implementation than was previously the case.Nevertheless, the weak points of the transition from the small to the large-scale administration must also be stressed. These are strongly related to the necessity of continuing to assure the open and democratie content of the policy implementation in a context in which the newly created distances between the administration and the citizens, the danger of bureaucratisation, and the tensions coupled with the integration demand a new approach and new insights.