After almost a year and a half of serious political crisis, Belgium regained hope yesterday thanks to a landmark agreement between the Flemish and francophone parties over a disputed electoral district that was poisoning the country's political life for decades. Although negotiations to form a government must still address contentious issues, the atmosphere is optimistic and hope there will be a new government in early October.
The parties involved in the negotiations agreed on the electoral and judicial division of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district (BHV), which includes the 19 districts of the capital with 35 Flemish municipalities in its periphery where also a francophone population lives. The district will be divided into six BHV municipalities which allow the use of French in dealings with government and with the possibility of voting by electoral lists (Flemish or French) in Brussels, and 29 municipalities will be under Flemish legislation.
In my opinion, the case of Belgium is a very interesting case to study. This new agreement proposed by the government is a very important step to reinforce the Belgian national spirit. Belgium is a country where two languages are spoken, but people from different places in the country do not even know both of them. On the one hand, Flemish demand more Autonomy and impose in many cases their language. On the other hand, Brussels is the only place in the country that is officially bilingual and seems to be the glue that unites the whole country somehow. The structure of the country appears to be formed to divide, instead of unite.
16 September 2011
I fully share your point of view that Brussels, as a region distinct from the two main blocks as are the two largest, French and German, it is the glue that one and will keep Belgium united in the same way.
ReplyDeleteAs regards to the national spirit and the divisions, I do not think any other block is going to to the other imposed in the future. I think for the country to move forward, both sides must agree to coexist and be, which in Belgium is not easy, as we know, each side pull for its interests. In any case, the total rupture between the two sides wold lead to the disappearance of what is now Belgium, and there would be another thing. In my opinion the division you're talking about is caused not only by the structure of the country, but mainly by the structure of government and how slow and difficult it is to carry out the decisions keeping in mind that you can not offend any side. Therefore, the creation of a government which pleased everyone will not be easy.