Belgium
If the defendant does not appear at the introductory hearing or, should the case be postponed, a later hearing, the court is obliged to thoroughly analyse the merits of the claim before delivering a default judgment at the request of the plaintiff. The court will, for instance verify whether the defendant was properly informed of the hearing and analyze issues of liability and quantum. It could, for example, reduce the quantum where the amount specified in the claim is unreasonable. If the court is not satisfied that the summons was properly served on the defendant, it can also order the plaintiff to have it served again.
If the claimant does not appear, the judge can simply reject its claim. The claimant's failure to appear at the hearing is quite exceptional in practice.
Furthermore, a default judgment cannot be rendered against a party that has filed a written pleading, even if it does not appear in person before the court. Once a party files its written pleading, the proceedings become adversarial and the court is obliged to address the issues raised in the pleading in its judgment.
The party who failed to appear at the hearing and has had a default judgment rendered against it, can challenge it by appealing the judgment. The aggrieved party has one month as from service of the judgment to make its challenge. A so-called opposition (verzet/opposition), which is a remedy available to the person against whom a default judgment is handed down, is only possible if the judgment cannot be appealed, for instance when the default judgment is a judgment on appeal or if the value of the case does not exceed the threshold to appeal. In that case, the proceedings will be assessed anew before the same court as that which issued the default judgment and the court will review the case in its entirety, both as to the law as to the facts.