The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jan
26
Has Belgium Hit the End of the Road?
Filed Under Polemics & Politics on January 26, 2011 at 10:14 pm
I’m annoyed today. Very annoyed. I think we’re witnessing the demise of the country which I am proud to be a citizen of – Belgium. There’s no doubt that it is, and always has been, a strange place. It was a purely made up country that had nothing on common apart from a shared Catholic faith, and the newly appointed king. I don’t know of any other country where there is no common national language. The struggles between the Wallonians and the Flemish has been long and complicated. Despite being a physically tiny nation, Belgium has become a Federal State, with a national federal government in Brussels, and local ‘state’ governments in Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. The local governments are all working just fine, they have administrations in place, and are getting on with the job of running their respective parts of the country. The problem lies with the national federal government. We have had a string of unstable governments for years now, often with very long gaps between elections and the eventual formation of short-lived and turbulent administrations. When the previous government collapsed last spring, elections were called and held in June. Since then, there have been on-going negotiations to form a government, and they have not gone smoothly. Today, for what feels like the millionth time, talks collapsed, and the King’s mediator has handed his resignation to the King. If you’re wondering why there have to be negotiations, the reason is that there are no nation-wide parties in the Belgium. There are Flemish parties and Wallonian parties, and although there is a Flemish Green Party and a Wallonian one, they are not the same party, and don’t work together. The constitution sets this division in stone mandating that governments consist of coalitions of Flemish and Wallonian parties.
Why have all Belgian governments been so unstable of the last few years? And why can’t we get a new government formed at the moment? The answer is just three letters long, BHV. What is BHV? It’s an electoral constituency, and it’s a relic of the pre-federal Belgium. In the past Belgium was a simple nation state like Ireland or France or most other countries in the world. This meant that there was no recognition of the separateness of the Wallonian or Flemish people, so electoral boundaries did not have to obey cultural boundaries, and indeed, there were no formal boundaries between the Flemish speaking areas and the French speaking areas. Since then a formal line has been drawn on the map which divides the country into French speaking Wallonia, Flemish speaking Flanders, and bi-lingual Brussels. The three sub-states within Belgium were given a large amount of autonomy, and electoral boundaries were re-drawn to respect the new organisation of things. Well – most of them were. All of them in fact, except BHV. For reasons I can’t quite fathom, the Wallonians held up the re-drawing of this constituency which straddles both Flanders and the officially-bi-lingual-but-actually-almost-entirely-French Brussels. It should be broken into two, a Flemish bit, and Brussels.
The controversy over BHV not respecting the federalised boundaries has dragged on for decades, but it really heated up a few years ago when voters from the smaller Flemish part of the constituency took a court case on the grounds that they were being denied their constitutionally protected right to democratic representation, because the majority-French Brussels is so much bigger than the Flemish Vilvoorde (the V in BHV), that Flemish candidates could never win. The case went to Belgium’s highest court for constitutional matters, which ruled that BHV, as it stands, is indeed unconstitutional. The people living in the Flemish parts of the constituency are indeed being denied their right to democratic representation. The court ruled that BHV would need to be split before the next elections were held, and that failing to do so would make all future elections unconstitutional. Despite this strong ruling, the Wallonians refused to play ball. They demanded compromises in exchange for agreeing to follow the constitution. The Flemish felt this was outrageous (and I agree). The argument over BHV eventually killed the government before a solution could be found, so last June it was decided to hold elections anyway, to hell with what the court said! The clear victors in Flanders were the NV-A, who campaigned on a very strong platform with regards to BHV, insisting that the constitution must be upheld, and that concessions should not have to be given to entice people to follow the law!
In the 7 months since that election, no compromise has been found. The Wallonians are still a big strong ‘Non’ on splitting BHV, so of course, no government can be formed.
I honestly don’t see how a government can be formed in a nation where one party feels that the constitution is just an optional extra. At this minute in time, Wallonian contempt for Belgian national institutions has made Belgium un-governable. Either sanity is restored and the law is upheld soon, or something will have to give. I’d be very sad to see a Flemish declaration of independence, but it just might be inevitable if Flemish and Wallonian politicians can’t even share a respect for Belgium’s constitution and courts.
I really fear a unilateral Flemish declaration of independence, because I can see it ending very badly. Wallonia is broke, it needs Flanders to survive. If Flanders walks, the Wallonians will not take that lightly. What will Belgium’s national defence forces do in response? Hunt down the Flemish ‘traitors’, or splinter? Even if there is no violence, a unilateral split is going to be politically horrible, and very hard on the people of Belgium, especially those in Wallonia. I have no idea how this will end, but if a Belgian national government can’t be formed soon, something dramatic will inevitably happen. Also, if a Belgian national government is formed on the basis of the Flemish parties agreeing to ignore the constitution and keep BHV intact, there will be demonstrations on the streets in Flanders, and possibly more. I really fear seeing Belgium in the news some time soon, because it could be there for all the wrong reasons.
My Previous Posts on the Belgian/Flemish Question:
- Belgium – A Country Without a Future? – my conclusion then was yes, but with greater Flemish autonomy within Belgium. That greater autonomy seems to be being blocked ATM
- Another Option for Flanders? – response to suggestions of Flanders joining the Netherlands
I am sorry to see the different language groups trying to grow apart in Belgium. I realise that, just as in Ireland, there are deep feelings of wrong going back into past centuries. I know that many educated Belgians have tried to get to know each other by learning different languages and spending holidays in different areas. I understand that in the Belgian Army there has been a longstanding policy that the troops shall learn the two languages and mix bilingually. Belgium will become a poorer place if it splits up into Wallonia and Flanders. Please try to stay together, for your own good and that of Europe. Splitting up will only encourage ultranationalists and xenophobes.
Thanks for the comments Garreth!
I’m certainly not keen to see Belgium split, and I always find myself questioning my opinions when ever the over-lap with extreme views, but, the realist in me is finding it hard to see a future for Belgium at the moment. To run a country together, the two communities need to share at least some core values, and if a respect for the constitution and the courts isn’t even shared, what hope is there?
I’ve been thinking about what binds Belgium, the most obvious thing is the King, then you have the shared aspects of culture like beer and comic strips, and then you have the NMBS, though both sides can’t even agree on it’s name! The other large national transportation companies have all been split, we have TEC and we have De Lijn, but there is still just one national rail network, and one national rail company, so, as strange as it sounds, the biggest practical hurdle to a split is actually the NMBS!
Bart.
This has been going on for years. I remember when they were talking about splitting up in 2008. I remember even further back when my father, ever the diplomat, made an offhand comment about how both sides got along at a dinner table. I learned a lot of French swear words quite quickly.
You really think it’ll happen this time, over all those other times? It seems unlikely to me. Apathy to the status quo is stronger than gravity.
You’re right that it’s been a perennial problem. As long as I’ve been alive there have been Flemish separatists, and long before then too – some of them were ancestors or mine. Things are a little different this time though – the separatist voices are not confined to the fringes, the victor of the elections in Flanders is the NV-A, and they are a separatist party. Their platform before the election was for gradual separation with ever-increasing autonomy leading up to separation in 10 years, but they are clearly Flemish separatists.
The other change is that it’s taking longer and longer to form governments. There were crises in the 60 and the 70s and the 80s and the 90s, but they were resolved much more quickly. If my older Flemish relatives are to be believed, the difference between the 60s and 70s and now is that back then the King would call for unity, and the Flemish would cave in and give the French their way, now, with Flanders being the economic power-house, the Flemish people have much more confidence in themselves, and they’re not prepared to be the ones to back down this time – certainly not on BHV.
I have no idea how things will turn out, but if we do indeed move to more elections without there having been a government formed out of the last elections, we’ll be in entirely un-charted water.
Bart.
I think the lesson from this is language politics suck. Canada was bad enough, with Quebec separatism and Federal politics veering towards regional and Francophone parties in the 90s and early 00s, but Belgium seems to have taken it to another level.
Sadly it seems like there is no common political fabric to bind the two main regions together, and as long as you have separate parties for each region at federal level then you’re going to struggle to have a coherent national government. Fortunately that didn’t come to pass in Canada – yet, even in Quebec the main federal parties have representation and compete with the local parties.
Shame if Belgium splits up, it seems utterly ridiculous that they are in this situation, but it seems like it’s being run as 2 separate countries at the moment anyway. Switzerland, Spain and other countries seem to cope with the language/regional divide reasonably well, I just don’t understand why Belgians can’t manage it. Maybe it’s down to bad politicians 🙁
I don’t want to let the politicians off too easily – but I think history is at the root of all this.
For a start – Belgium started life as a made up country. The Flemish and Wallonians didn’t come together to form a country, they were pushed together. And – what makes it all WAY worse, they didn’t come together as equals. Belgium started life as a francophone namtion, with the wealth and power all down south, and French life and culture pushed on the entire nation from the top down. Not quite penal laws territory, but from the same playbook all the same. Ridiculous and tragic things like officers in WWI only speaking French resulting in Flemish peasants being mown down for not following orders they couldn’t understand are still etched deep in the minds of many Flemish people. When you hear my Grandfather talking about how he would re-paint all the road signs in Flemish at night, you get an idea of the level of struggle. Anyone who wanted power had to adopt French ways. No Flemish speaking person could rise in society in any way, in the church, in business, or in politics.
Flanders had to fight every bit as hard as the Irish did for their language and culture – and – it must be noted, more successfully – Flemish is not on artificial life support, it’s a living vibrant language!
Historically – the Wallonians always got their way, because their way was the Belgian way. With the successful rise and assertion of the Flemish identity it became ever harder for the Wallonians to get their way. They still want to, and indeed expect to, but they’re not, because the Flemish have had enough. Now that Flanders is where the money is, the Flemish are just not prepared to roll over and play dead any more. In their minds, the Wallonians still see their culture and language as superior, and can’t understand why the flemish can’t see that. The Flemish have no interest in un-french-fying the south, but the Wallonians are hard at work doing the reverse.
When Flemish people move down south they HAVE to speak French, the idea of Flemish being tollerated down south is laughable. But – when the Wallonians come north, they DEMAND to allowed conduct their lives in French. They DEMAND that Flemish tax payers pay for their kids to go to all-French schools in Flanders. In theory the language boundary is supposed to be symmetric, but in reality it’s used as a one-way diode, French can flow over in Flanders, but no way in hell is it going the other way! My grandparents tell stories of how town after town has been entirely Frenchified in what was once Flanders. It frightens the hell out of them. They literally feel under siege. That’s not mirrored down south.
I don’t believe one part of Switzerland ever tried to commit cultural genocide on the other – hence the comparison doesn’t hold IMO. I’m not as sure about how to make a sensible comparison with Spain, other than to say that the Flemish and Basque cultures and languages seems to have come under similar attack. I’m not so sure the Spanish are dealing with the Basque country any better than Belgium is. Just imagine if half of Spain was Basque – it would be just like Belgium politically IMO.
It really is all history. There is real resentment that Flemish tax-payers pay for a very generous welfare state for their broke and over-spending southern neighbours, while at the same time, their southern neighbours are still trying to assert their preferences on Flanders, and still trying to spread their language to the entire nation.
I’m all for forgiving past transgressions, but, at some point, some basic ground rules need to be set and respected, like say, the constitution and laws of the land! Till that happens how can there be a future for Belgium?
Bart.
Well I think you’ve touched on it, people asking for special treatment in relation to language protection, it always causes ill-will.
My own experience of it is from family in Canada. In Quebec the official language is French, only the majority anglophone towns get services in English. In Ontario the provincial government offers services to towns in French, where typically the town does not have a majority Francophone population…French is respected and it’s much more bilingual.
Even in Wales, you get services in both Welsh and English…the only acrimony is that civil servants have to speak both languages (when we all know that Welsh speakers really can speak English..seriously..they can!).
I’m surprised that Belgium hasn’t made more moves towards bilingualism. I know that Brussels is a sore point because it’s the Francophone island ever-expanding into the Flemish suburbs, but as it is a centre for global institutions then I’m not surprised it’s Francophone, probably in 50 years’ time it will be Anglophone!
I know Flanders is rich at the moment, but that can change. Alberta subsidises the rest of Canada with oil revenues, and Scotland complains about the contributions that they make to the London Exchequer. The point is that it’s supposed to be one country, and you work in the national interest, even if that means you send money off to another end of the country.
It’s sad, because it feels like by appeasing the regions the central government has written its own death warrant. I’m not sure how viable two separate states would be. Maybe the Southern Netherlands will come back!
There’s an interesting article in the economist today.
http://www.economist.com/node/18008272?story_id=18008272&fsrc=rss
Cheers for the link John – definitely makes interesting reading!
Brussels is definitely they thorniest issue should there be a split. For a start, it’s increasingly Francophone suburbs would be the most likely flash-point of any violence to protest a unilateral split by Flanders. As a part of Belgium, many of the border towns along the Flemish/Wallonian border are officially bi-lingual – in an independent Flanders I imagine the dictate would come down from on high that Flanders only has one official language, and it won’t be French! That would generate some serious animosity around these parts.
Brussels is an even thornier issue though because, historically, it was a Flemish city, and not just any Flemish city, but the proverbial jewel in the Flemish crown. Today, it’s officially bilingual, but reality is different. I would wager there is more English spoken in Brussels now than Flemish!
I’d be inclined to image that an ‘if we can’t have it neither can you’ mentality would set in, so handing Brussels over to the EU to become a sort of Washington DC could be one way out. It’s a proposal I’ve heard bandied about a few times by Flemish nationalists.
The NV-A’s analogy of Belgium being eroded away by the EU is the most sensible. It would be so much bother to set up a Flemish army etc., but if Belgian remains as a looser and looser federation while the EU takes over more and more national sovereignty, then eventually, Flanders will just be a state within the EU, and Belgium will be irrelevant. Even the most extreme Flemish nationalists that I’ve spoken to don’t want a fully independent nation state, they want an independent Flanders within a united Europe. Really, they just want the Wallonians to stop bossing them around, and for the Frenchification of Flanders to be halted in it’s tracks, and, ideally reversed. The older generation will remind you that once Flanders spread down into modern-day France, and that Lille was once the Flemish city of Rijsel.
All in all – I have to wonder whether or not the British did Europe a favour when they dreamt up Belgium and forced it onto the continent!
Bart.
I think the NV-A is living in cloud-cuckoo land….if they think the EU will just be sufficient and they don’t need anything else. It’s quite sad how so much dislike has arisen between the two communities, and so pointless.
After all, if we don’t have Belgium anymore, who will the Dutch and the French have to poke fun at? 🙂
ROFL – if there’s no more Belgium, hopefully the Dutch and the French will poke fun at the Wallonians – and everyone will leave the Flemish alone. Not likely – but we can dream.
Somehow – I don’t see the term “Belgian” vanishing too quickly. Even if Flanders were to break away – terms like “Belgian Chocolate” would stay around for decades, if not longer.
Bart.