taken from: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3362
Political Crisis in Belgium Deepens
>From the desk of Paul Belien on Thu, 2008-06-26 14:44
Belgium is slowly unravelling,
like a Yugoslavia in slow motion. The supranational country is in a
situation of political limbo since the elections of June 10, 2007.
Belgium, which is often described as a miniature version of the
European Union with which it shares its capital, is made up of
Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in
the south. Politicians in Wallonia are preparing for the moment when
Flanders secedes from Belgium. Some Flemings fear that French-speaking
extremists are planning to take over the Flemish towns surrounding
Brussels by force.
Since its conception in 1830-31 when Walloon
and French revolutionaries tore the country away from the Netherlands,
its French-speaking minority has dominated the Dutch-speaking majority,
which was denied higher education in its own language until the 1930s.
As a result the linguistic frontier gradually shifted northwards, as
historically Dutch-speaking towns and villages, such as Waterloo, were
annexed by Wallonia, and as Belgium’s capital, Brussels, originally a
Dutch town, developed into a bilingual enclave within Flanders.
This
process was exacerbated since the 1970s when the massive influx of
North-African immigrants, from formerly French colonies, turned
Brussels into a predominantly French-speaking city. The influx of
immigrants in turn drove the French-speaking Brussels middle and upper
classes out of the city and into the surrounding Flemish countryside,
the Halle-Vilvoorde region, where the newcomers demanded that the
“peasants” address them in French. The Belgian authorities introduced a
special status – the “facility” regime – for a number of Flemish
municipalities surrounding Brussels: To welcome the newcomers and make
it easy (facile in French) for them to adapt to their new
environment they were allowed to use the French language in their
contacts with the local authorities. In fact, this meant that Brussels’
bilingual status was extended into Flanders.
The June 10, 2007
elections were a clear signal that the Flemings have had enough. They
want newcomers, whether these be Walloons or immigrants, to respect the
Dutch identity of Flanders. This demand for respect on the part of the
Flemish as well as the refusal of the French-speaking Belgians to
renounce their “acquired rights” have led to a political stalemate. For
six months it was impossible to form a government, then an “interim
government” was formed, and after that a “real” government which,
however, quarrels on all issues and has not been able to agree on
policies. The result is that legislative work in Belgium has come to an
almost complete standstill. The stalemate has led to a hardening of the
positions, with a majority of the Flemings declaring in opinion polls
that they favour Flemish independence if Belgium proves to be no longer
viable.
Both
Flemings and Walloons are now preparing for the post-Belgium age .
Since Brussels is geographically an enclave within Flanders, Walloon
politicians are demanding a territorial corridor linking Brussels to
Wallonia so as to ensure that, if Belgium falls apart, Brussels and
Wallonia can form a connected “Wallobrux” union. The corridor, a piece
of land 2.5 kms wide, stretches from Brussels to Waterloo.
The
Flemings, on the other hand, demand that people who apply for social
housing in Flemish towns such as Vilvoorde, have a command of the Dutch
language – a demand which the authorities say is discriminatory and in
violation of European Union laws.
Flemings living in the
region around Brussels fear that the French-speakers are preparing to
occupy parts of Flanders, i.e. the corridor linking Brussels to
Wallonia and the municipalities with a “facility” regime, by force.
Steven Erlanger, the biased pro-French Paris correspondent of the New York
Times, recently wrote that the Flemish demand for respect towards the Dutch
identity of
Flanders is an example of “nonviolent fascism.” If there is going to be
violence the aggressors will not be the so-called “fascists.” On
Tuesday evening Bart De Valck, a teacher in Wemmel, a Flemish town to
the north of Brussels with a “facility” regime, told a meeting of
Flemish secessionists in Antwerp that he fears the split-up of Belgium
“will not be peaceful like Czechoslovakia’s.” De Valck, who is the
spokesman of the Taal Aktie Komitee (TAK), a group of young activists
who defend the Flemish character of Flemish towns along the linguistic
border, said that French-speaking extremists are planning attacks on
Flemish leaders. “We receive threats all the time.”
Meanwhile,
there are persistent rumours that the health of King Albert II, the
74-year old monarch of the Belgians, is deteriorating. The Belgian
royal family has always allied itself with the French-speaking minority
in the country. Albert’s likely successor, Crown Prince Philippe,
however, is an even more outspoken enemy of Flemish independence than
his father. In November 2004, during a visit to China, the Crown Prince
told the Belgian press that people who are opposed to Belgium and
favour Flemish independence “will have to deal with me. Make no
mistake: if necessary I can be tough.”
