A border is the essence of a country as it was stated as one of the requirement to be recognized as a country. Back in the day, people agreed on Westphalia declaration to make sure that every country has a clear definition of the territory thus prevent conflict between countries. Therefore, Baarle created some anomaly by having an international border running through their building.
What makes Baarle unique is the fact that there are some Belgium’s enclaves and some Netherland’s counter-enclaves inside Baarle. Therefore there are two municipalities inside Baarle which are Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog. The international border that separates them is not a straight line but 26 scattered lands around Baarle. For example, there is a land called Zondereigen in the Belgian Town of Merksplas and 22 Belgian exclaves in the Netherland. Within Zondereigen there are also eight Netherland’s exclaves.
Therefore citizens in Baarle have dual citizenship and dual passports. The governmental process inside Baarle is the matter of negotiation between two municipalities. For example, the Belgian used to seek for Dutch permission to build some part of the mayoral building because the meeting room is in the Dutch area. People in Baarle also used this border for their own advantage. In the case of planning law, many people choose to have their front door in Belgium because Belgium has less restrictive planning law. Business owners also choose to build their office on top of the border so the paperwork can be moved to the opposite side of the building when the nationality’s tax inspector coming.
wc: 257
What makes Baarle unique is the fact that there are some Belgium’s enclaves and some Netherland’s counter-enclaves inside Baarle. Therefore there are two municipalities inside Baarle which are Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog. The international border that separates them is not a straight line but 26 scattered lands around Baarle. For example, there is a land called Zondereigen in the Belgian Town of Merksplas and 22 Belgian exclaves in the Netherland. Within Zondereigen there are also eight Netherland’s exclaves.
Therefore citizens in Baarle have dual citizenship and dual passports. The governmental process inside Baarle is the matter of negotiation between two municipalities. For example, the Belgian used to seek for Dutch permission to build some part of the mayoral building because the meeting room is in the Dutch area. People in Baarle also used this border for their own advantage. In the case of planning law, many people choose to have their front door in Belgium because Belgium has less restrictive planning law. Business owners also choose to build their office on top of the border so the paperwork can be moved to the opposite side of the building when the nationality’s tax inspector coming.
wc: 257
Comments
Post a Comment