Belgium is infested with politicians (it has six parliaments for a country of 10m people). That is because public money is used to buy peace in Belgium, whose Dutch- and French-speaking halves increasingly loathe each other. As a result, endless obscure ministers inhabit a world of obscure public bodies, run by political hacks and serviced by a parasitic class of consultants, lawyers and the like—often members of their families.
The Economist May 28th 2009. Hat tip: John Baeyens