Economy of Belgium increased unemployment, stemming from the worldwide banking crisis. For 50 years through World War II, French-speaking Wallonia was a technically advanced, industrial region, with its industry concentrated along the sillon industriel, while Dutch-speaking Flanders was predominantly agricultural with some industry, mainly processing agricultural products and textiles. This disparity began to fade during the interwar period. When Belgium emerged from World War II with its industrial infrastructure relatively undamaged thanks to the Galopin doctrine, the stage was set for a period of rapid development, particularly in Flanders. The postwar boom years, enhanced by the establishment of the European Union and NATO
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 of announcing the results, the country was split into six regions: Brussels, four in the Francophone provinces (the votes from the provinces of Namur and Luxembourg were combined and announced together) and one termed the "Rest of Belgium", covering the five Dutch-speaking provinces where viewing figures were likely to be much lower. Each region announced the actual number of televotes received, rather than converting them into the Eurovision 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-10-12 format. Sorce emerged the winner by a margin of over 3,500 votes. Although it did not affect the outcome, there was initially some degree of uncertainty about the disproportionately high number