Interview with Flemish Separatist De Wever: 'Belgium Has No Future' -- Spiegel Online
Six months after the general election, Belgium still has no new government. Flemish nationalist Bart De Wever, head of the country's largest party, wants to split Belgium into two states. In an interview that has caused a scandal in his country, he told SPIEGEL why the nation has "no future."
Belgium has sunk into political chaos. Following the parliamentary elections six months ago, all attempts to build a new government have failed. The country is divided into two camps that oppose each other, apparently irreconcilably: the socialists, who won the most votes in Wallonia, the French-speaking southern region of the country, and the nationalist conservatives in Flanders, the wealthier Dutch-speaking northern region.
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My Comment: I live in the french speaking province of Quebec in Canada. We have always had an independence movement, but this province's dependence on Federal benefits and assistance has effective undermined this movement (for now). While the rest of the country may not like the idea that one province is singled out with special attention, much of the Federal political leadership is uniformly against the idea of splitting the country and will always search for ways to accommodate the french population in Quebec.
Belgium has a different political culture, where any talk of accommodation is moot. In fact, Belgium is already two countries in one .... and with such a cultural and linguistic division, I doubt that there will be any future for this country. The Flemish Separatist leader De Wever is right .... Belgium is living on borrowed time.
1 comment:
lol
does the world honestly believe Belgium is going to break up?
the Flemish are using this as a stick behind the door, because the French refuse to comply to an agreement made decades ago: make the area around Brussels completely Flemish instead of bi-lingual
this was agreed on in exchange for making the Flemish speaking area's in the French part completely French speaking
but now the area around Brussels has become much more valuable, and has a higher percentage of French-speakers. the French realise they made a bad choice, and now they come back on their promesse, using political defence systems to protect them from the Flemish majority in Parliament to stall giving up the areas around Brussels
this has been going on for decades now, the Flemish politicians unable to break through this political black mailing. the Flemish people, sick of this, shifted from center to a center-right politician, who they know will not sell them out like past politicians did. he's not egocentric either, for example he agreed on letting a French politician be prime minister for the first time in over 50 years instead of himself
maybe he'll also do something about the fact that the Belgians are ruled by a royal family who doesn't even speak the language of the Flemish majority of the country, even after 180 years in their role
but Belgium is no more likely to break up than Canada, the vast majority of the population would not stand for that. the Flemish are just sick of providing 70% of the GDP and being treated like a lesser people
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